Sugar production may reach 16.5 million tonnes next season

New Delhi (PTI): Sugar output in India, the second-largest producer in the world, may not rise much in the 2009-10 season, starting October, and could touch only 16.5 million tonnes due to an inadequate supply of cane, major cane-growing states have informed the Centre.

A meeting of cane commissioners early this week with the Food Secretary Alka Sirohi here pegged the output for the ongoing 2008-09 season at 15.8 million tonnes, sources said.

"It is very early to estimate the sugar production as sowing of sugarcane is continuing. But data compiled after the feedback from states indicate the sugar output is not going to increase much," a top state official who was present at the meeting said.

He said output in the 2008-09 season (October-September) is estimated at 15.8 million tonnes, which is over a million tonnes more than the industry estimate of 14.7 million tonnes.

Sugar production in 2007-08 stood at 26.4 million tonnes.

Cane commissioners told the Centre that the expected increase in area under sugarcane this year may not translate into significant rise in sugar output in the next season, though they expect the situation to improve in the 2010-11 season, sources said.

The meeting also discussed issues like credit to mills, availability of fertilisers and high-yielding varieties of seeds, sources added.

source: hindu