Sugar output up 19% till Dec 15 this season: ISMA

Notwithstanding delays in crushing by sugar mills, production of the sweetener in the country rose by almost 19% to 45.84 lakh tonne till December 15 in the 2011-12 season, industry body ISMA said today.

India -- the world's second-largest sugar producer and biggest consumer -- had produced 38.63 lakh tonne of the sweetener in the same period last year.

The sugar season runs from October to September.

"Even though the mills started their crushing slightly late this year, especially in Maharashtra, the production this year has registered an overall jump of 18.7%," the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said in a statement.

Maharashtra -- the country's largest sugar-producing state -- has manufactured 17.50 lakh tonne of the sweetener, as of December 15, compared to 16.25 lakh tonne in the same period last year, it added.

Output in India's second-largest sugar producing state, Uttar Pradesh, rose by 50% to 12.85 lakh tonne in the review period from 8.55 lakh tonne last year.

Sugar output in Karnataka was higher as well, at 8.25 lakh tonne till December 15 of the current crop year, compared to 7.35 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.

"As against 445 mills which were operational on December 15, 2010, 452 mills have started operations as of December 12, 2011," the apex body of private sugar millers in the country noted.

ISMA has pegged the country's total sugar output at 26 million tonne in the 2011-12 season, slightly higher than the government's forecast of 24.6 to 25 million tonne, while annual demand is estimated at 22 million tonne.