India's sugar production down by 3 pc to 23.9 MT so far

India's sugar production declined by 3.23 per cent to 23.9 million tonnes (MT) till May 15 during the marketing year 2013-14 (October-September) due to lower production in key states, ISMA said today.
According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), sugar production during the same period in the year 2012-13 stood at 24.7 MT.
For the entire year 2013-14, sugar production is pegged at 24.2 MT, four per cent less than the last year's level of 25.1 MT, ISMA said in a statement.
During the ongoing year, there was a decline in the production of the sweetener from Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu whereas the mills in Maharashtra have produced almost similar quantity of sugar, while the production in Karnataka was higher.

Sugar mills in Maharashtra have produced 77 lakh tonnes (LT) of sugar, followed by mills in Uttar Pradesh with 64.5 LT, mills in Karnataka have produced just over 41 LT of sugar and in Tamil Nadu mills have produced almost 11.5 LT in this season till May 15, ISMA added.
As compared to the previous sugar season up to May 15, the sugar production in the year 2013-14 in Uttar Pradesh has come down by 10 LT and in Tamil Nadu by 4.5 LT, ISMA said.
While the mills in Karnataka have produced over 7 LT more than last year, sugar output is almost at last year's level in Maharashtra.

ISMA also highlighted that the pace of sugar exports has slowed down due to the reduction in the export incentive from Rs 3,300 per tonne Rs 2,277 per tonne by the Food Ministry.