Industry body ISMA revises 2023-24 sugar production estimate upwards by 2.9%

Industry body Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) has revised the sugar production estimate for 2023-24 upwards to 34 million tonnes; up by 2.9% from its earlier estimate of 33.05 million tonnes issued in January this year.

The Indian government has put a cap of diversion of 1.7 million tonnes of sugar for ethanol production in 2023-24 to make more sugar available for the consumers as there were concerns over the production of sugar due to the drought in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

According to the data provided by Maharashtra government, the state’ sugar production as on March 12 stood at 9.9 million tonnes against 10.15 million tonnes produced on the same day of previous year; down by 2.42%.


“The sugarcane availability in Maharashtra and Karnataka is higher than what was expected earlier. However, cane availability in another major state Uttar Pradesh is predicted to be lower than earlier estimates,” said ISMA in a statement.

It added, “Accordingly, ISMA has revised its All-India sugar production estimate for 2023-24 SS (before diversion into ethanol) as 340 lac tons, against its earlier estimate of 330.5 lac tons released in January’ 2024.

ISMA has also noted that the sugar production in the country till March 12 was 255.5 lakh tonnes after diversion of sugar for ethanol.

The sugar industry representatives have been demanding that the government should allow diversion of some more quantities of sugar towards production of ethanol. The government has been trying to keep sugar prices under control. Last month, it also made it mandatory for each sugar mill to sell at least 90% of its monthly sugar sale quota.