Sugar output drops 3.45 per cent to 23.75 million tons: Indian Sugar Mills Association

NEW DELHI: The country's sugar production fell 3.45 per cent to 23.75 million tonnes in the first seven months of the 2013-14 season as output declined in key states, industry body ISMA said today. 

The Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) also said cane arrears are set to pile up to over Rs 12,000 crore this season due to falling prices and the government's delay in fixing the subsidy for export of raw sugar. 

Mills produced 23.75 million tonnes of sugar till April of the October-September season compared with 24.6 million tonnes in the corresponding period last year, ISMA said. 

The current sugar crushing season has almost come to an end and only about 80 of the country's 504 mills operated on April 30, it said in a statement. 

ISMA has pegged sugar output at 23.8 million tonnes for this season compared with 25.1 million tonnes last year. 

Output in Maharashtra, the leading sugar producing state, fell to 7.65 million tonnes till April from 7.98 million tonnes in the year-ago period, according to ISMA data. The rate of sugar recovery from crushed cane was 11.4 per cent.