MUMBAI, Jan 17 (Reuters) – India is likely to produce 34.3 million tonnes of sugar in 2022/23, down 4% from the previous forecast, after sugar cane yields in key producing states were hit by adverse weather, a senior industry official told Reuters on Tuesday.
Lower sugar output could limit exports from the world’s second-biggest exporter, lifting global prices , and allowing rivals Brazil and Thailand to increase their shipments.
“Excessive rainfall and cloudy weather in September and October curtailed sugar cane’s vegetative growth. Cane yields are lower than the last year,” Prakash Naiknavare, managing director of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd, told Reuters.
India, the world’s biggest sugar producer, had produced a record 35.9 million tonnes of sugar in the previous season, which ended on Sept. 30.
Maharashtra, which accounts for more than a third of the…
