Sugar output up 25.37% at 17.68 mn tons during Oct-Jan: ISMA

However, production in Maharashtra — the country’s second-largest sugar producer — increased substantially to 6.38 million tonnes from 3.46 million tonnes in the said period. Whereas production in Karnataka — the country’s third-largest sugar producer — also increased to 3.43 million tonnes till January from 2.79 million tonnes.

Sugar production stood at 5,55,000 tonnes in Gujarat, while the collective output in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana was 3,56,000 tonnes in the said period. The remaining states — Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Odisha — have collectively produced 1.51 million tonnes till January this season, the statement said.

Welcoming the budget proposals, the industry body said the increase in import duty on denatured ethyl alcohol from 2.5 per cent to 5 per cent will make inward shipments costlier by around Rs 1 per litre at the current global rates. This in turn will increase the demand for domestic molasses and alcohol produced by the Indian sugar industry and grain-based distilleries, giving better returns. This will ensure better payments to the Indian sugarcane and grain farmers, it said.

”Overall, the Indian sugar industry welcomes the various steps taken by the government to financially help the industry and the sugarcane farmers,” ISMA said. The industry body also requested the government to extend all benefits and incentives proposed to be given to the sectors — which contribute towards improving air quality and increasing renewable energy production in the country — to the Indian sugar industry/ distilleries that produce and supply ethanol for blending with petrol.