The sugar season 2006-07 (October-September) has begun on a promising note, with record sugar production in the opening month. | |
| The country has produced 3.06 lakh tonne sugar in October, which is the highest for the month over the past 10-plus years. |
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| Sugar output stood at 3.06 lakh tonne on October 31, a growth of more than 14 per cent over the last October figure of 2.67 lakh tonne. |
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| And of this, one half has been produced by co-operative sugar factories and the other by private sugar mills. |
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| According to the National Federation of Co-operative Sugar Factories, co-operative sugar mills produced 6.44 lakh tonne sugar as on November 15. |
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| The co-operative sector has seen 6.5 per cent increase in recovery at 7.45 per cent this October against 6.99 per cent in the same month last year. |
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| While in November 2005, the country's output stood at 19.28 lakh tonne sugar, the production, this November, is expected to cross the 25 lakh tonne mark. |
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| However, sentiment in the sugar market is not bullish as prices "� both domestic and international "� have been declining. |
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| Prices in the spot market have fallen by Rs 50-70 to Rs 1,650-1,700 a quintal over the past week. |
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| In the futures market too, sugar prices have been on a downhill. |
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| On the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, M-sugar for December delivery dropped to Rs 1,752 from Rs 1,779 a quintal on last Monday, while the same for January delivery has slumped from Rs 1,756 to Rs 1,733 a quintal. |
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| While the country is expected to produce about 23 million tonne sugar in the current season compared with 19.1 million tonne last season, its annual consumption is 19 million tonne. |
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