Domestic Sugar Production of 278 Lakh Tonnes by August 2026
10-Sep-2026 01:06 PM
New Delhi: The apex industry body, the Indian Sugar & Bio-energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA), has stated that domestic sugar production in the current 2025-26 marketing season (October-September) is likely to reach approximately 279 lakh tonnes. Mills across the country produced about 277.50 lakh tonnes of sugar between October 2025 and August 31, 2026, while an additional 1.50 lakh tonnes could be produced in the current month (September). A special sugarcane crushing session is currently underway in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu; these two southern states conduct special crushing operations from July to September. Crushing operations in other producing states had concluded much earlier but are expected to resume in October.
According to the ISMA report, sugarcane crushing is currently taking place in about 17 sugar mills across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and this activity is likely to continue until the end of September. The new 2026-27 marketing season will commence in October. Based on current trends, ISMA has projected the total domestic sugar production for the entire 2025-26 season at 279 lakh tonnes.
It is noteworthy that while the country produced only 261 lakh tonnes of sugar during the 2024-25 season, the total availability reached nearly 340 lakh tonnes due to a massive carry-over stock of 79 lakh tonnes. At the start of the 2025-26 season, the carry-over stock had dropped to around 50 lakh tonnes. With an estimated production of 279 lakh tonnes, the total sugar availability is expected to be around 330 lakh tonnes. Of this, approximately 8.25 lakh tonnes of sugar have been exported.
The total annual domestic consumption of sugar is around 285 lakh tonnes. Given this, it appears that the industry's total sugar carry-over stock at the end of the 2025-26 season could hover around 3.5 million tonnes. This could complicate the sugar supply situation. Once the 'free sale' quota for October is released, the industry's sugar stocks could drop to critically low levels. However, the situation might improve somewhat with the import of 1 million tonnes of raw sugar and the commencement of new production from mid-October.