Sugar output may exceed 16 MT this year: Pawar

Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said the country's sugar output in the current season could exceed 16 million tonnes (MT) on the back of improved yields in key growing states.

However, the output is still much short of India's annual demand of 23 MT.

"We expect sugar production to be more than 16 MT this year," Pawar told reporters here after inaugurating Krishi Mela, organised by Indian Agricultural Research Institute.

Sugar season runs from October to September. The minister informed that productivity of sugarcane has improved substantially in Karnataka and Gujarat along with the top two producers Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

"The encouraging trend is that sugarcane productivity particularly in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat has improved substantially," he said.

Maharashtra and UP produce nearly 60 per cent of the country's total sugar output.

Pawar added that the government might revise upwards the sugar estimates after reports of higher cane yield from these states. "Looks like we have to change our initial assessment of sugar production," he said.

The government has estimated sugar output in the 2009-10 season (October-September) at 16 MT, against 14.7 MT in the previous season.