By Mayank Bhardwaj and Rajendra Jadhav
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India is likely to start the new sugar season in October with comfortable opening stocks, despite lower-than-expected production in the current season and exports of 1 million tons, a leading producers’ body said on Thursday.
The world’s second-biggest sugar producer allowed mills to export 1 million metric tons of the sweetener in January during the current season to September 2025, as both the government and the industry believed there was a surplus for overseas markets.
However, since then, industry bodies have lowered output estimates for the current year to September 2025, raising some concerns over supplies.
A leading industry body said India need not worry about supplies.
“The supply situation is quite good because our opening stocks will be very comfortable and then next year’s production will be higher,” Deepak Ballani, director general of the Indian Sugar & Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA), told Reuters.
On October 1, when the 2025-26 season starts, mills will have 5.4 million tons of carryover stocks from the previous season, which will be more than sufficient to meet domestic demand for October and November, Ballani said.
“Our mills are in a position to easily export 1 million tons and also meet domestic requirements for both sugar and ethanol.”
The All India Sugar Trade Association, another trade body, said last week the opening sugar stock for the next season could fall to 3.78 million tons from 8 million tons a year ago.
Sugar traders anticipate price increases in the coming months, driven by reduced output and seasonally high demand during the summer months
The government is closely monitoring sugar prices and will only intervene in the market if necessary, said a government official, who declined to be named.
Sugar, a politically sensitive commodity, is heavily regulated by the government. Other than announcing the price for cane that mills must pay to growers, the federal government fixes the quantity each mill can sell in the open market.
(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj and Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Shreya Biswas)
