India's Oct-Nov sugar output down 11 pc to 4.32 mn tonne: NFCSFL

New Delhi: India's sugar production was down by 10.65 per cent at 4.32 million tonne during October-November, the first two months of the ongoing 2023-24 season, cooperative body NFCSFL said on Friday.

Sugar season runs from October to September. The production stood at 4.83 million tonne in the year-ago period. India is one of the largest sugar producing countries in the world. According to the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd (NFCSFL), the country's overall sugar production was down on account of lesser output in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Sugar production in Maharashtra, the country's second largest producer of the sweetener, was lower at 1.35 million tonne in October-November of this season as against 2.02 million tonne in the year-ago period. Sugar production in Karnataka, the country's third largest producing state, was also lower at 1.1 million tonne as against 1.21 million tonne.

However, the production in Uttar Pradesh, the country's top producer of the sweetener, remained higher at 1.3 million tonne as compared to 1.06 million tonne in the year-ago period, the cooperative said in a statement. Sugar recovery was 8.45 per cent in the first two months of the current season. As per the NFCSFL data, sugar output was lower as the total quantity of sugarcane crushed in October-November was less. About 51.01 million tonne of sugarcane was crushed during October-November of the 2023-24 season, as against 57.06 million tonne in the year-ago period. Even the number of sugar mills that were in operation was lower at 433 as against 451. NFCSFL has pegged the total sugar output at 29.15 million tonne for 2023-34 season, lower than 33 million tonne in the previous season