Cane crushing accelerates in Maharashtra

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Sugar prices in India have been rising on a delay in cane crushing.

"The pace of crushing is accelerating, I think by this month end all mills should begin crushing," Chavan said.

In the current crushing season, an improvement is likely in recovery rate, which stood at 11.5% last year, he added.

Maharashtra is likely to produce 4.8 million tonnes of sugar in 2009/10, compared to 4.6 million tonnes a year ago, a senior industry official said last week.

In the 2009/10 season, lower acreage and poor rains will keep India's output at 15.3 million tonnes, a little more than last year's output of 15 million tonnes, falling severely short of domestic consumption of about 23 million for a second straight year, a Reuters poll showed.

The country, the world's biggest consumer and the second-biggest producer, allowed tax-free imports of raws and whites early this year to tide over a shortage triggered by lower availability of cane.

Indian mills had imported 2.2 million tonnes of raws and 225,000 tonnes of whites in the 2008/09 sugar season, junior farm minister K.V. Thomas said on Friday.

White sugar futures edged up on light investor and industry buying on Friday, and dealers said white sugar could rise further on cash Indian buying if farmers' protests persist.

Chavan said this year 41 million tonnes of cane is available for crushing and in 2010/11 the availability will increase as mills are paying "lucrative price" for cane procurement, prompting farmers to expand acreage.