Isma had at the beginning of this season estimated a production of 26.5 MT for the current season.

Sugar production in the current sugar season (October 2019-September 2020) has been revised upwards to 27 million tonne (MT) compared with 26.5 million tonne projected at the beginning of the season,
Indian Sugar Mills’ Association (Isma) said on Tuesday.

Isma had at the beginning of this season estimated a production of 26.5 MT for the current season.

However, the gur and khandsari manufacturers in Uttar Pradesh shut their operations earlier than expected because of the lockdown, which in turn saw a substantial quantity of sugarcane getting diverted to sugarmills. The same has resulted in extra sugarcane crushing by the mills in the state and an
additional 5-6 lakh tonne production is expected in the current season, mainly from UP and from a special season in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Therefore, the current season’s sugar production is expected to be around 27 MT. This, however, will be around 6 MT less than the previous sugar season, Isma said.

According to Isma, it is estimated that up to April 2020, the sales by mills were on a par with the sales up to April 2019.

This is due to the extra sales of 1 MT up to February-end over last season. With demand picking up and an expected increase in demand to refill the pipeline, the sugar sales in the 2019-20 season may be
around 5 lakh tonne less than last year. Accordingly, the closing balance at the end of the current season may be higher at 11.5 MT compared with an earlier estimate of 9.5-10 MT.

Mills across the country have produced 26.821 MT between October 1, 2019, and May 31, 2020, a decline of 18% or 5.932 MT less than 32.753 MT produced in the corresponding period in the previous season.