The apex sugar industry body Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) today revised upward its production estimate for the 2012—13 marketing year by three lakh tonne to 243 lakh tonnes.
Earlier, ISMA had projected 240 lakh tonne of production in 2012-13 marketing year (October-September).
Sugar output in India stood at over 260 lakh tonne in the 2011-12 marketing year.
The committee members of ISMA reviewed its production estimate for the current marketing year based on the satellite image of sugarcane area.
“ISMA accordingly revises its earlier sugar production estimates made in September 2012 of 240 lakh tonne to 243 lakh tonne now,” the association said in a statement.
The industry’s projection is higher than the government’s estimate of 230-235 lakh tonne.
Till January 15 of this marketing year, the country has already produced 108 lakh tonne of sugar against 105 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.
According to ISMA, sugar production of Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka has been revised upward by 2 lakh tonne each, while Maharashtra is likely to produce 3 lakh tonne more than the earlier estimate.
The output of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh—— the two major sugar producing states—— is now estimated at 68 lakh tonne and 81 lakh tonne, respectively. Karnataka is likely to produce 32 lakh tonne.
However, ISMA said that the production would be lower than expected in Tamil Nadu due to drought-like condition.