Sugar output for the 2013-14 season starting October will exceed the current year’s output on higher cane yields, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Monday.
Sugar production in the current year is estimated at around 25 million tonnes (mt) and the domestic consumption is estimated at 23 mt.
“I have reviewed the sowing situation and it looks like the yields in sugarcane are going to be better than last year,” Pawar told reporters after unveiling the statue of Nobel Laureate Norman E. Borlaug, at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s Pusa campus.
rainfall
On concerns of excess rains affecting various crops, Pawar said, “It has not reached that stage.”
According to the India Meteorological Department, the country has received 14 per cent excess rains since the onset on monsoon on June 1.
Excess rain in drought-affected States such as Maharashtra and Karnataka has brightened the prospects of better yields although the sugarcane acreage has declined due to last year’s dry spells and drought conditions.
acreage down
The total cane area across the country is estimated at 48.53 lakh hectares (lh), some 3 per cent lower than last year’s 50.06 lh.
Uttar Pradesh has planted a record acreage of 25.17 lh, about 10 per cent more than last year’s 22.77 lh.
However, in Maharashtra, the cane acreage is lower at 5.70 lh (9.40 lh).
In Karnataka, the sugarcane area is estimated at 3.48 lh, marginally lower than last year’s 3.65 lakh ha.
output estimates
In its initial estimates, the Indian Sugar Mills Association pegged the output in the year starting October 2013 at 23.7 mt – about 5 per cent lower than current year’s 25 mt on lower cane acreage as planting was affected by drought in parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Sugar stats
The opening sugar balance for the next season is expected to be around 80 lakh tonnes, about 20 lakh tonnes more than the normative opening balance that the Government would like to have.
vishwanath.kulkarni@thehindu.co.in