Sugar output to be lower than expected as drought hits crops

India’s sugar production in 2016-17 is likely to fall to 22 million tonnes (mt), down 4.3 per cent from an earlier estimate, as mills in its key producing state are closing early due to a cane shortage, industry officials told Reuters. A drop in production below India's consumption of around 25 million tonnes could lift prices and prompt the world's second-biggest consumer to allow duty-free imports of the sweetener, supporting global prices that are trading near their highest level in 18 months.

In the past two years, back-to-back droughts have ravaged the cane crop in Maharashtra, the country's top sugar producer.

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