NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's sugar output in the 2015/16 season will be enough to cater to local demand, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Thursday, as the first back-to-back drought in nearly three decades hit cane plantation and raised concerns over production.
The south Asian country is the world's second biggest producer of the sweetener and has been exporting sugar to bring down inventory and pay cane farmers' dues.
Paswan said cane arrears have dropped to 27 billion rupees ($396.6 million) from 210 billion rupees in April 2015.
The country's wheat and rice stocks on Jan. 1 stood at 23.8 million tonnes and 12.7 million tonnes respectively, he said.
($1 = 68.0800 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Sunil Nair)