After Dry Spell, India’s Sugar Industry Poised For Sweet Surplus
India’s sugar sector is poised for a strong rebound after two tough years of drought and export limits. Surging rainfall—1,007% above average in Maharashtra—has boosted sugarcane planting. Production is expected to rise nearly 20% in 2025/26 to 35 million metric tons. The recovery could restore India’s status as a leading global sugar exporter.
NEW DELHI — After two difficult years marked by drought and export restrictions, India’s sugar sector is gearing up for a strong comeback.
Thanks to abundant rainfall across key growing regions, sugarcane cultivation has rebounded sharply, setting the stage for surplus sugar production for at least the next two years. Farmers, especially in Maharashtra and Karnataka, have expanded planting areas, buoyed by rains that far exceeded normal levels this May — 1,007% above average in Maharashtra and 234% in Karnataka.
The result: India’s sugar output is projected to surge in the 2025/26 season, with gross production expected to climb nearly 20% year-on-year to 35 million metric tons, according to estimates from the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories. That’s a marked turnaround from recent seasons, when erratic weather curtailed yields and forced the government to clamp down on exports.
India, the world’s second-largest sugar producer, was also its second-largest exporter until recently, shipping an average of 6.8 million tons annually between 2017 and 2023. But that position slipped after a drought in 2023 cut into sugarcane planting and prompted a complete export ban in 2023/24. In the current 2024/25 marketing year, only 1 million tons are allowed for export — a fraction of previous levels — as production fell below domestic consumption for the first time in eight years.
With a favorable monsoon and rising acreage, India could soon reclaim its position as a top global supplier. (with Reuters inputs)
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Source : IndiaWest Journal
