Sugar output may drop to 28 mn tonnes

New Delhi: The country's sugar production is expected to decline by 12.38 per cent to 28-29 million tonnes in the 2019-20 marketing season starting this month, due to sharp fall in the output in Maharashtra, a senior Food Ministry official said on Thursday.

Sugar output stood at 33.1 million tonnes during the 2018-19 marketing year (October-September).

"After taking inputs from the sugarcane growing states, total sugar output for the current year has been pegged at 28-29 million tonnes," the official said.

The fall in overall output is mainly due to expected drastic decline in the sugar production in Maharashtra, the country's second largest producer of the sweetener, because of floods and drought, the official said.