Sugar Output in India’s Biggest Producer Increases

By Thomas Kutty Abraham

Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Sugar output in Maharashtra, India’s biggest producer, rose 5 percent in the first two months of the season that began Oct. 1 as mills boosted crushing, a producers’ group said.

Production was 850,000 metric tons in the October-November period, compared with 810,000 tons a year ago, Ajit Chowgule, secretary of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation Ltd., said by phone. They crushed 9.5 million tons of cane, 17 percent more than a year earlier, he said.

Increased output may help the country, the biggest consumer, pare imports that helped send global prices to a 28-year high in September. The country may need to double overseas purchases to as much as 7 million tons this season started Oct. 1, Kushagra Nayan Bajaj, joint managing director at Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd., India’s top producer, said in an interview last week.

Raw-sugar futures for March delivery fell 0.6 percent to 22.64 cents a pound in New York yesterday. Earlier, the most- active contract reached 23 cents, the highest since Nov. 20. Wholesale prices in Mumbai reached a record last month.

Cane harvest in Maharashtra was disrupted twice last month after rains brought by a cyclonic storm flooded fields, hurting recovery. Average yield may improve starting this month because of warm weather over the main growing region, Chowgule said.

“It is bright and sunny. That will help improve recovery,” he said. “More mills will start crushing this month.”

Average recovery fell to 9 percent in the October-November period from 10 percent a year earlier, he said. A total of 122 units are crushing cane as of today, compared with 136 units last year, Chowgule said.

The western state is forecast to produce 4.6 million tons this crop year, unchanged from a year ago, and may harvest 41 million tons of cane, Chowgule said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Kutty Abraham at tabraham4@bloomberg.net