Indian sugar output to drop on cheap imports

Sugar output in India, the biggest producer after Brazil, is set to decline in the year from October as domestic prices fall on cheaper imports and dry weather curbs planting, the Indian Sugar Mills Association said.

Production will probably slide from 24 million metric tons in the year ending Sept. 30, M. Srinivaasan, president of the association, said in a phone interview. Decreasing local prices will hamper mills’ ability to make timely payments to farmers, encouraging them to switch to other crops, he said. He didn’t give a forecast for 2013-2014.