Following are selected highlights from a report issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) post in New Delhi:
"FAS/New Delhi's forecast for India's centrifugal sugar production in marketing year 2023/24 (Oct-Sept) is unchanged from the previous estimate of 36 million metric tons, equivalent to 33.6 million metric tons of crystal white sugar. A substantial supply of sugarcane and derivatives used by India's booming ethanol industry could lead to a domestic supply in 2023/24 that doesn't meet domestic consumption.
"Post increased India's sugar exports for 2022/23 to 7.4 million tons owing to continued favorable market prices. For the outyear sugar exports forecast is 6.5 million tons. The Indian government may continue restricting the sugar export for the outyear 2023/24 to maintain domestic sugar market prices, and affordability for domestic consumers".