Indian sugar falls for 4th day as demand eases

MUMBAI, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Indian sugar futures fell for a fourth day on Friday as demand in the spot market eased after millers raised supplies in an attempt to sell their allocated quota for the month.

At 2:40 p.m. (0910 GMT), the October futures NSMV8 on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange were down 1.05 percent at 1,702 rupees ($35.4) per 100 kg, while November futures NSMX8 had fallen 1.13 percent to 1,750 rupees.

Spot prices in Maharashtra, the country's top producer, fell 0.29 percent to 1,725 rupees.

"The millers are increasing supplies in the spot market, while demand is easing as most of the festive buying has already taken place last week," a sugar trader in Maharashtra said.

"Some fresh demand can kick in at lower prices," he added.

The government has set millers a sales quota of about 2.1 million tonnes in October, up from 1.6 million tonnes in the same month last year.

The quota includes about 200,000 tonnes of carry-over stocks from September, which millers must sell by Oct. 15.

Any unsold sugar would be bought by the government at a lower price and distributed to the poor.

Prices were also subdued on expectations of a rise in imports due to lower cane availability this year, analysts said.

A senior industry official told Reuters on Wednesday that India was in talks to buy 700,000-800,000 tonnes of raw sugar from Brazil or Thailand. See[ID:nSP289774] ($1=48.1 rupees)