As per ISMA’s third advance estimates, the gross sugar production for SY2026 is projectedto increase by 9.4% to 32.41 million MT (P.Y. 29.6 million MT). The net sugar production, after an estimated diversion of 3.1 million MT towards ethanol production, is likely to remain at 29.3 million MT. 

Considering the domestic consumption of 28.3 million MT and export of 0.7 million MT, the closing sugar stock is expected to be 5.6 million MT (P.Y. 5.3 million MT), which is about two months of consumption, indicating a comfortable demand-supply scenario.