Oct-Feb sugar production declines 10.63 per cent

New Delhi, Mar 4. The production of sugar in the country declined 10.63 per cent to 16.86 million tonnes in the October-February period of the ongoing 2013-14 marketing year, on lower output in most states, including Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, industry body ISMA said today. Also, sugarcane arrears to growers has touched Rs 14,000 crore as on February 28, 2014, of which Rs 10,000 crore remains unpaid in Uttar Pradesh, it said in a statement. Mills had manufactured 18.84 million tonnes of sugar in the same period of last marketing year (October-September). According to Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), "The gap in sugar production has narrowed down further from 13 per cent to 11 per cent over the last fortnight. 460 mills are still crushing sugarcane, which is 23 more than last year." Sugar production in Maharashtra, the country's top producer, fell to 5.71 million tonnes till February of this year from 6.57 million tonnes in the year-ago period. ISMA said mills in the state have recovered 11.1 per cent of sugar, down from 11.15 per cent of recovery in the year-ago period. But the overall sugar recovery is expected to be 11.41 per cent in 2013-14, better than last year, it added. Sugar production in Uttar Pradesh -- the country's second biggest producer -- also declined to 4.27 million tonnes from 5 million tonnes in the review period. However, recovery of sugar was slightly higher at 8.99 per cent as against 8.94 per cent in the same period last year. Production in Tamil Nadu also declined to 5,70,000 tonnes from 9,92,000 tonnes due to lower recoveries and late starting of sugar crushing season. Similarly, production in Gujarat was also down at 8,60,000 tonnes as against 8,89,000 tonnes in the year-ago period. However, sugar output in Karnataka remained higher by 3 per cent at 3.15 million tonnes so far this marketing year, ISMA added. The country has exported 1.2 million tonnes of sugar so far, of which 5,00,000 tonnes was raw sugar. Above this, 1,00,000 tonnes of sugar has also been exported against the Advance Authorisation Scheme. ISMA has pegged sugar production at 25 million tonnes for this year, which is higher than the government's estimate of 24.1 million tonnes and sufficient to meet domestic demand of 23.5 million tonnes.