Sugar stock may go up 17 per cent: KV Thomas

NEW DELHI: The closing stock of sugar for the current season ending September is expected to remain higher by up to 17% to nearly 6 million tonne on bumper domestic production, the government said on Tuesday.

The closing stock of sugar is estimated at 5.49-5.99 million tonne (mt) as on September 30, 2011 as compared with 5.12 mt at the end of 2009-10 (October-September), food minister KV Thomas said.

Sugar production of India, the world's second largest producer and biggest consumer, is estimated to increase to 24.2 mt in the 2010-11 season as against 18.8 mt in the previous year.