Sugarcane sown area reached 57.68 lakh hectares

21-Aug-2024 05:50 PM

New Delhi. The latest data from the Union Agriculture Ministry shows that during the current year, the sugarcane production area at the national level increased to a peak of 57.68 lakh hectares,

which is 57 thousand hectares more than the sown area of ​​​​57.11 lakh hectares in the year 2023. Earlier, the sugarcane area was recorded at 55.32 lakh hectares in the year 2022 and 54.52 lakh hectares in 2021.

In view of this increase in sugarcane sown area, domestic sugar production can generally be expected to increase during the 2024-25 season, but the apex industry body - Indian Sugar and Bio Energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA) has estimated the total sugar production to fall by 2 percent to 333.10 lakh tonnes.

It says that the actual area under sugarcane has been less this time than last year and there is a possibility of damage to the crop in some areas due to torrential rains, severe floods and prolonged waterlogging in the fields.

According to ISMA, despite the decrease in sugar production, there will be no problem of its supply and availability in the domestic sector because when the current marketing season formally ends on 30 September 2024,

the domestic industry will have a huge outstanding surplus stock of about 91 lakh tonnes of sugar, which will be sufficient to meet the domestic demand and requirement for the first four and a half months of the 2024-25 marketing season.