In what could come as a big relief to consumers, reeling under the impact of high food prices, India?s sugar production in 2009-10 crop season that started in October is expected to more than 16 million tonne (mt), far above the earlier projections of around 14.6 million tonne, largely because of good output in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, the two biggest sugar producing states of the country.

In a meeting of sugarcane commissioners of major producing states held late last week, production for 2009-10 was estimated to be around 15.5 million tonne to 16.3 million tonne with strong possibility of final output being more towards the upper end of the band.

This figure is far above the output projections of 14 million tonne made by the Prime Minister?s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) in its review of the economy.

?The final situation will become clearer in the next 10-15 days, but as per reports from cane commissioners, production is likely to be over 16 million tonne,? a senior government official said.

Sugar prices in the country had touched more than Rs 45 per kg in the retail market few months back over reports that production could drop below last year?s output.

However, with the latest estimate being more than 16 million tonne, prices both in the retail and wholesale markets are expected to drop further.

Output in Uttar Pradesh, the country?s second biggest sugarcane producing state is expected to be around 4.2 million tonne to 4.4 million tonne, almost 500,000-600,000 tonne more than the November estimate.

Production in Maharashtra is now estimated to be more than 6 million tonne, almost 1.3 million tonne more than the earlier estimate.

?Yields and recovery rates have been rather good and we are hopeful of a further improvement in output when the next estimates are made,? the official said.

As per the report of the cane commissioners, production in Gujarat is now expected to be around 1.16 million tonne, up from November estimate of 1.15 million tonne.

In Tamil Nadu, sugar production is expected to be 166,000 tonne more than the earlier estimate of 1.08 million tonne at 1.25 million tonne.

Production in Karnataka is projected to be around 2.05 million tonne, more than the November estimate of 1.9 million tonne.

Among other states, sugar production in Andhra Pradesh is projected to be around 436,000 tonne, in Bihar is 199,000 tonne, in Haryana, sugar output is projected at 202,000 tonnes.

In Punjab , sugar production this year is expected to be around 170,000 tonnes, while in Uttarakhand, output is estimated to be around 235,000 tonne. Around 200,000 tonne of sugar will be produced in other states.

?Overall we feel that sugar availability in 2009-10 will be around 24 million tonnes after adding the imports and last year?s closing stocks, which would comfortably meet the annual demand of around 23 million tonnes,? officials said.

He said another 1.1 million tonne of refined sugar and more than 1.2 million tonne of raw sugar is expected to come into the country through imports in the next few months.

Govt cancels sugar export to EU

The government on Tuesday revoked export of 10,000 tonne of sugar to European Union after the Opposition BJP attacked it for being insensitive to soaring prices in the domestic market due to shortages. A week after allowing sugar exports, the commerce ministry on Tuesday “rescinded” with immediate effect its order of February 15.

“Allocation of 10,000 million tonne of white sugar for export to European Union for the fiscal year 2009-10…stands withdrawn,” the directorate general of foreign trade said.

The withdrawal of the export order comes on a day when the united opposition parties tried to corner the government in Parliament on the issue of price rise.

Earlier, the food ministry issued a clarification saying that there would not have been any net export of sugar from the country after meeting the EU obligation as the Sugar Exim Corporation will be allowed to export the sugar only after importing equivalent quantities of sugar (10,000 tonne in this case) in this season.