Govt may not allow additional sugar exports: Report

Government may not allow additional sugar exports, said a report on Thursday. The Bloomberg report comes at a time when India's sugar production fell 3 per cent to 299.6 lakh tonnes in the first six months of the 2022-23 marketing year ending September, according to industry body Indian Sugar Mills Association.

Sugar output stood at 309.9 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The sugar marketing year runs from October-September.

As per the data, sugar production in Uttar Pradesh rose to 89 lakh tonnes during October 2022-March 2023 period from 87.5 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.

Maharashtra's sugar production fell to 104.2 lakh tonnes from 118.8 lakh tonnes, while output in Karnataka declined to 55.2 lakh tonnes from 57.2 lakh tonnes.

ISMA has projected production for 2022-23 to 340 lakh tonnes against 358 lakh tonnes in the 2021-22 marketing year.

Lower sugar output from India, the world's biggest producer of the sweetener, will leave hardly any surplus for additional exports during the current 20022-23 season.

The government allowed mills to export only 6.1 million tonnes of sugar in the 2022-23 season, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration was expected to allow a second tranche of shipments.

India exported a record 11.2 million tonnes of sugar in the previous 2021-22 season.

Unfavourable weather conditions have hit the sugar cane crop in Maharashtra, India's biggest producer, cutting crop yields.

ISMA said 194 mills have closed operations during the 2022-23 season so far, against 78 in the same period a year earlier, reflecting lower sugar cane availability.

More than two dozen mills in Maharashtra stopped cane crushing by the end of February, nearly two months earlier than last year, because of adverse weather.

With inputs from agencies