| India:
world’s largest sugarcane producer
During the crop year ‘99-00, India is expected to emerge as the world’s largest producer or sugarcane. India is producing a record of 174 lakh tonnes (lt) compared to about 160 lakh tonnes (lt) by Brazil, according to K. S. Srinivasan, the secretary of South India Sugar Mills Association. It is reported that during ‘98-99, India produced about 155.4 lakh tonnes of sugarcane compared to Brazil’s 160 lakh tonnes. Consequently, the carry-over stock of sugarcane in India is all set to rise to between 94 lt and 95 lt in ‘99-00, compared to about 70 lt during ‘98-99. Sugarcane production in Karnataka (which is one of the top five sugarcane producing states, accounting for about 10 % of the nation’s output) is also expected to go up during ‘99-00, reaching 16lt compared to 13.7 lt produced during ‘98-99. Currently sugar prices rule in the range of Rs. 1,230 to Rs. 1,250 per quintal in Bangalore. Prices have fallen by over Rs. 100 to Rs. 120 per quintal during the last year or so. However, many units are incurring a loss as the minimum preak-even level is around Rs. 1,400 per quintal. The international price of sugar (fob) is around Rs. 8,400 to Rs. 8,600 per tonne while Indian sugar costs around Rs. 12,500 per tonne as reported by the Bangalore market. |
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