India's sugar output to be 24.8 mn tonne: USDA

Country had already produced 23.15 mn tonne sugar till April 15 of current October-September season

The US farm department has estimated India's sugar production at 24.8 million tonne for the ongoing 2013-14 season, higher than the 23.8 million tonne forecast by the domestic industry body ISMA.

The country had already produced 23.15 million tonne sugar till April 15 of the current October-September season, as per the data maintained by Indian Sugar Mills Association.

The US Department of Agriculture said the output is expected to be lower than 25.1 million tonne achieved in the 2012-13 season.

It said the output in India - the world's second largest producer and biggest consumer of sugar - is expected to be higher as cane production has risen and favourable monsoon conditions have improved the overall sugarcane recovery to 10.25%, an increase of 0.25% over last year.

USDA said sugar output in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh - the country's top producers - is likely to be 7.73 million tonne and 6.78 million tonne respectively, for this year.

Last year, Maharashtra had manufactured 8 million tonne, while Uttar Pradesh produced 7.46 million tonne.

Production in Karnataka is expected to be exceptionally high at 4.2 million tonne this year, as against 3.4 million tonne in the year-ago period, it said.

Sugar output in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat is expected to be 1.5 million tonne and 1.18 million tonne respectively, this year. Last year, Tamil Nadu had produced 1.8 million tonne and Gujarat, 1.13 million tonne.

Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) has revised the output for this year from 25 million tonne to 23.8 million tonne due to lower output in key producing states.