India’s sugar output in the first two months of the new season that began October fell to 1.7 million tonnes, down 100,000 tonnes from the year ago level, due to delayed crushing in the key state of Uttar Pradesh and lower recovery from cane, a senior industry official said today.
“Lower recovery from sugarcane and delay in crushing in Uttar Pradesh due to the agitation by farmers demanding higher cane prices led to lower sugar output during October-November,” the official said.
Last month, thousands of sugarcane farmers had marched to Parliament, demanding higher prices for their produce.
Farmers’ refusal to take their produce to the market unless better prices were offered led to a delay in crushing, which in turn reduced the recovery of sugar from sugarcane.
After a delay of around 50 days, mills started crushing operations after relenting to pay higher prices to farmers.
According to government estimates, India is likely to produce 16 million tonnes sugar in 2009-10, far below its annual consumption of 22-23 million tonnes.
