Sugar prices are expected to remain under control as India will have around 31 million metric tonnes (MT) stock available, which would be sufficient to meet domestic consumption, the government said on Friday.
"Sugar production during 2016-17 season is estimated at 24 million MT and coupled with estimated carryover stock of 7.3 million MT from the current sugar season, the availability of sugar for domestic consumption will be around 31 million MT," the consumer affairs ministry said in a statement. It added that "the domestic demand would be around 25.5 million MT".
The ministry categorically said, "There will be no shortage of domestically produced sugar in India".
During the current sugar season 2015-16, India had started with a "carryover stock of 9 million MT from last season".
"The production of sugar has been estimated at about 25.3 million MT in the current season. Hence there is sufficient availability of sugar even for the current sugar season," the ministry said.
--IANS
vin/rn/vt
