The apex sugar cooperative federation NFCSF has estimated that sugar production in the country next year would be 24.5 million tonnes a little less than the current year’s production of 26 million tonnes.
The NFCSF Managing Director Vinay Kumar made the estimate public while talking with reporters in the capital.
However, Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) had earlier calculated sugar output for the marketing year 2012-13 at 24 million tonnes. The sugar body said its estimate factored in a possible fall in sugar production due to a reduced precipitation.
According to the cooperative body, sugar output in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s second biggest sugar producing state, is estimated to rise to 8 million tonnes from 7 million tonnes in the review period.
Production in Karnataka is expected to decline to 3 million tonne on 2012-13 from 3.8 million tonnes this year due to less rains. Inspite of all this, India would have export surplus of 2 million tonnes for the next year, the sugar association noted.