Sugar output remains flat

Sugar output in India, the world's second-biggest producer, was little changed in the first five months of the season that began in October after farmers in the biggest cane-growing states delayed crushing.

Production was 16.9 million tonnes in the October- February period, said R K Agrawal, deputy secretary at the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories, a producers' group, citing provisional data.

Sugar output in India, set to bypass Brazil as the world's biggest producer, may total 27 million tonnes this year, less than the 28.3 million tonness produced a year ago, as cane harvests in the state of Maharashtra were delayed by two weeks due to rainfall, and mills in Uttar Pradesh refused to process the crop because of a price dispute with the state government.

Maharashtra, the country's second-biggest cane-grower, produced 6.32 million tonnes from October 1-March 9, compared with 6.42 million tonnes a year ago.

Mills in the state crushed 53.2 million tonnes of sugar cane, 5 per cent less from a year ago, Prakash Naiknavare, managing director of Maharashtra State Co- operative Sugar Factories Federation, said in Mumbai today.

"The recovery is higher this year and that has helped the overall sugar output though cane harvested was lower,'' he said. Production in the state may total 8.3 million tonnes, he said.