The Indian Sugar Mills’ Association (ISMA) has revised its sugar production estimate for the current season (2019-2020 sugar season) following a study of satellite images of cane areas in the last week of January.
According to ISMA, the production in this season, which started in October 2019, is expected to be 26.5 million tonnes (MT). The initial estimate in 2019 was 26 MT. The satellite pictures have given an idea of areas where sugarcane was harvested and remained unharvested across the country.
The details were discussed at a meeting of ISMA on February 25 and “there was an agreement that sugar production during 2019-2020 sugar season would be slightly more than what was estimated in November 2019... this after considering reduction of sugar due to more production of ethanol by way of diversion of B heavy molasses and sugarcane juice,” said a press release from the association.
Sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh are expected to produce almost the same quantity (118 lakh tonnes) as the previous season, while those in Maharashtra are likely to produce only 62 lakh tonnes as against 107.20 lakh tonnes in the 2018-2019 sugar season.
The season started in October last year with 14.5 MT of opening stock.
The domestic consumption in 2019-2020 is estimated to be 26 MT and exports nearly five MT. The closing stock on September 30, 2020, is expected to be nearly 10 MT, the press release said.
