After Tomato, Sugar May Now Get Costlier As Its Production In Maharashtra To Fall Sharply
After tomato, sugar may be the next product to see inflated prices. Sugar prices are expected to shoot up due to falling production as a result of rainfall shortage this year.?
This would mean that India would disallow sugar exports, supporting global prices, which are already near their highest in over a decade.?
Driest August in more than a century
Sugar output in Maharashtra, India's top producing state, which accounts for more than a third of country's sugar output, is likely to fall 14% in the 2023-24 crop year to its lowest in four years.
This is due to lower cane yields following the driest August in more than a century, industry and government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.?
"The sugar cane crop didn't receive ample rainfall during the crucial growth phase this year. In almost all districts, the crop's growth is stunted," B.B. Thombare, president of the West Indian Sugar Mills Association, said.?
In fact, Maharashtra received 59% lower rainfall than normal during August. So in the 2023-24 season (which begins on Oct. 1), Maharashtra could produce 9 million metric tons, down from 10.5 million tons in 2022-23.?
The crop badly needs good rainfall in September to limit damage caused by the dry spell, Maharashtra's sugar commissioner Chandrakant Pulkundwar said.?
The situation is hoped to improve if India receives more rainfall in September.?
The state-run weather department has forecasted that India will likely receive an average amount of rainfall in September after the driest August in more than a century.?
The opposite weather conditions sometime back in May and June had led tomato prices to shoot up to Rs 200 a kg. Unseasonal rains damaged crops and disrupted supply chains in key tomato-growing states, pushing its price to unprecedented heights.?
India's sugar export scenario?
Maharashtra's output is crucial to India's ability to export sugar.?
In 2021-22, Maharashtra produced a record 13.7 million tons of sugar, allowing India to export a record 11.2 million tons.?As Maharashtra's output fell to 10.5 million tons in 2022-23, India had to reduce sugar exports to 6.1 million tons.?
Beginning in October, for the first time in seven years, India will probably halt shipments as mills are expected to be banned from producing sugar.??
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