India's 2022-23 sugar output seen up 2pc, exports at 9m tonnes

India is expected to produce around 36.5 million tonnes of sugar in the new season that began on 1 October, a leading industry body said on Monday, up 2 per cent from the previous season.

India, the world's biggest sugar producer and the second biggest exporter behind Brazil, churned out around 35.8 million tonnes of the sweetener in the 2021-22 season, according to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), a producers' body.

Mills will produce around 36.5 million tonnes of sugar during the current season after diverting 4.5 million tonnes of sugar for ethanol production.

During the previous 2021-22 season, mills diverted 3.4 million tonnes of sugar for ethanol.

During the 2022-23 sugar season, India is likely to achieve a target of 12 per cent ethanol blending with gasoline.

India's carryover sugar stocks on 1 October 2022, when the current season started, totalled around 5.5 million tonnes, and domestic consumption is expected at around 27.5 million tonnes, ISMA said in the statement.

As a result, mills can export around 9 million tonnes of sugar, ISMA said.

India is poised to allow around 5 million tonnes of sugar exports in the first tranche for the current 2022-23 season.

"We will announce this year's sugar export quota within a week," said Sudhanshu Pandey, the most senior civil servant at the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

India exported more than 11 million tonnes of sugar in the previous 2021-22 season.

But this year, the government is expected to allow mills to export around 5 million tonnes of sugar in the first tranche and let mills ship out more later during the season, after having a better sense of this year's production.

India has a relatively short window to export sugar as the Brazilian output could dampen global prices by April, ISMA said, urging the government to soon announce this year's export quota.

Cashing in on attractive global prices traders have already started signing deals to export raw sugar for the current 2022-23 season.