New Delhi: Sugar production in the current sugar season is expected to be 13% higher than the previous sugar season. As per the revised estimate, production of sugar in the current sugar season is estimated to be about 350 lakh tons after discounting the diversion of 35 lakh tons of sugar for ethanol production. Officials said the production is sufficient to meet the domestic consumption of 278 lakh tons. There was carry over stock of about 85 lakh tons at the beginning of the current sugar season (October-September 2022 period).
Talking about the comfortable position of sugar stock in the country, officials said even after the likely export of about 95 lakh tons of sugar, the closing stock for the current sugar season at the end of September this year is likely to be more than 60 lakh tons. "The availability of sugar in the country is sufficient to meet the domestic requirement. As such, there will be smooth availability of sugar and the sugar prices in the domestic market are expected to remain stable at reasonable levels," said the government.
Read: India's sugar production jumps by over 9 pc year-on-year
In the current sugar season, sugar mills are expected to make a payment of Rs one lakh crore to cane farmers in the current season. Government is also encouraging sugar mills to divert excess sugarcane to ethanol which is blended with petrol, which not only serves as a green fuel but also saves foreign exchange on account of crude oil import.
Ethanol blending
