Sugar output turns sour, may hit three year low as rains ravage crops

Sugar production could slide to between 26 million tons to 26.5 million tons in 2019-20, compared with 33.1 million tons a year earlier

Sugar output in India, one of the world’s biggest producers, may hit a three-year low this season after flooding damaged crops in areas that had earlier escaped droughts.

Production in the country, which vies with Brazil as the No. 1 grower, may slide to 26.85 million metric tons in the year that began on Oct. 1, down from an earlier estimate of 28.2 million tons, the Indian Sugar Mills Association said in a statement on Tuesday. The country produced a record 33.2 million tons in 2018-19, it said.

The slide in production could reduce the nation’s sugar stockpiles, which surged to a