NEW DELHI, Indian mills have

produced 28.2 million tonnes of sugar since the current season

began on Oct. 1, down 1% year on year, the Indian Sugar Mills

Association said on Friday.

Lower sugar output from India, the world's biggest producer

of the sweetener, will leave hardly any surplus for additional

exports during the current 20022-23 season.

The government allowed mills to export only 6.1 million

tonnes of sugar in the 2022-23 season, but Prime Minister

Narendra Modi's administration was expected to allow a second

tranche of shipments.

Dampening speculation that India would permit the second

tranche, government sources in mid-January said India was not

looking at allowing more sugar exports.

India's absence from the market could lift global prices

SBc1, LSUc1 and allow rivals Brazil and Thailand to increase

shipments.

India exported a record 11.2 million tonnes of sugar in the

previous 2021-22 season.

The Indian Sugar Mills Association in late January cut its

2022-23 output estimates by 7% to 34 million tonnes from the

previous forecast of 36.5 million tonnes. Last year Indian mills

produced a record 35.8 million tonnes of sugar.

Unfavourable weather conditions have hit the sugar cane crop

in the western state of Maharashtra, the country's biggest

producer, cutting crop yields.

Reuters was first to report in December on the likely drop

in production.

The Indian Sugar Mills Association said 194 mills have

closed operations during the 2022-23 season so far, against 78

in the same period a year earlier, reflecting lower sugar cane

availability.

More than two dozen mills in Maharashtra stopped cane

crushing by the end of February, nearly two months earlier than

last year, because of adverse weather.

Source: ASEAN Exchanges