INDIA: 2012/13 surplus seen at up to 3 million tonnes
Published: 08/08/2012, 1:26:39 PM
India will likely have 2.5 million-3 million metric tonnes of surplus sugar to continue exports in the next marketing year starting Oct. 1, despite drought-like conditions in major growing regions, according to Dow Jones.
Gautam Goel, president of the Indian Sugar Mills Association says the ISMA maintained its previous output forecast of 25 million metric tonnes for 2012/13 and said expected low sugar output in drought-hit states such as Maharashtra and Karnataka is likely to be offset by higher production in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
India is likely to export 3.5 million tonnes of sugar in 2011/12, up from around 2.5 million tonnes a year earlier, according to industry estimates. The country is expected to have produced about 26 million tonnes in 2011/12, while domestic consumption is about 22 million tonnes.
Monsoon rainfall over India has been around 17% below the long-term average so far this season, which generally runs from June to September, affecting sugar cane regions in the western state of Maharashtra as well as the southern state of Karnataka.
Production in Maharashtra, the country's biggest sugar producing state, is likely to fall 15% to 7.6 million tonnes next year, the trade body said.