Sugar Production in the country is expected to witness a downward trend this season as compared to that of previous years. The production of sugar in India is expected to be 15% lower for period October 1, 2016-September 30, 2017.
In India, Uttar Pradesh is called the sugar bowl of the country for its highest contributions to sugar production. Maharashtra and Karnataka follow Uttar Pradesh.
According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), the decline in sugar production this year can be associated with the closures of some sugar mills in the second and third largest sugar producing states. The matter of fact is that agriculture sector depends hugely on the weather and this year, both Maharashtra and Karnataka failed to witness very good rains.
Southwest Monsoon in India ended on a rain deficient note in Karnataka. Both coastal Karnataka and South Interior Karnataka received 21% lesser rains than it's normal during Southwest Monsoon. It was only North Interior Karnataka that was rain surplus by 4%.
On the contrary, Maharashtra managed to observe good rains during Southwest Monsoon. Konkan and Goa were rain surplus by 22%, Marathwada by 21%, Madhya Maharashtra by 12% and Vidarbha witnessed a rainfall surplus by 4%.
Moreover, Karnataka and Maharashtra received scanty rains from October to December. In total, the rainfall this sugar season has not been sufficient for bumper sugar production.
This affected the sugarcane availability in both the two states.
Indian mills are expected to produce 21.3 million tons of sugar during this year which is the lowest in last seven years. In 2015-16, the mills produced 25.1 million tons that fell from a high of 28.3 million tons in 2013-14. The drop in sugar production is also likely to stabilize retail prices thereby compelling the government to allow duty-free imports.
However, ISMA claims that on account of higher cane plantings, mills are expected to produce surplus sugar in the next sugar season 2017-18. Moreover, production in Maharashtra and Karnataka is also predicted to become back to normal due to abundant water availability in reservoirs.
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