Due to severe weather, more than two dozen mills in Maharashtra, India's main sugar-producing state, had suspended cane crushing by the end of February, nearly two months earlier than last year, according to a senior state government official.
The early closures indicate that Maharashtra would produce significantly less sugar than the earlier estimate of 13.8 million tonnes, lowering the country's overall output. Reduced sugar output may prohibit the world's second-largest exporter from increasing exports, thus boosting global prices and enabling competitors Brazil and Thailand to increase exports.
The western state of Maharashtra, which produces more than a third of India's sugar output, produced 9.51 million tonnes of sugar in the 2022/23 marketing year, which began on Oct. 1, down from 9.73 million tonnes at the same period last season.
Except for a few dozen mills, all in the state will stop operating by the end of March. Sugar mills in Maharashtra were active till mid-June 2021/22 due to a record crop.