India sugarcane area acreage 4.56 mln hectare, down 8% YoY

The area under sugarcane in India was at 4.56 mln ha as of Wednesday, down 8.2% from 4.96 mln ha a year ago, according to data released by the agriculture ministry. The acreage was also lower than the normal level of 4.62 mln ha for the period. The normal acreage for the entire season, based on the average for the last five years, is nearly 5 mln ha. In Uttar Pradesh, the acreage was at 2.18 mln ha, up 6.2% from a year ago.

The acreage in Maharashtra, India's largest sugar producer, was down a sharp 35.9% on year at 633,000 ha, while in Karnataka, it was 25.0% lower at 377,000 ha. At 268,000 ha, the area under sugarcane in Tamil Nadu was down 8.8% on year.

For 2016-17 (Jul-Jun), the agriculture ministry has set a sugarcane production target of 355.0 mln tn. According to the ministry's estimates, the country produced 352.1 mln tn of cane in 2015-16, down from 362.3 mln tn the previous year.

For the sugar season starting October, the Indian Sugar Mills Association has pegged the country's output at 23.3 mln tn, down 7% from 25.1 mln tn in the current season.

Production is seen falling due to lower cane acreage in key growing states, the association said. It estimated the area under the cane crop in 2016-17 at 4.99 mln ha, compared with an estimated 5.36 mln ha in 2015-16.