Indian sugar futures jumped nearly 3 percent on Tuesday on hopes festivals will boost demand for the sweetener in the coming weeks and as the market was worried over production due to poor rainfall in key cane growing areas. Additional supply of non-levy sugar for the September quarter weighed on spot prices.
The key September contract on the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange was up 2.57 percent at 3,507 rupees ($62.96) per 100 kg at 1113 GMT, after rising to 3,520 rupees earlier in the day. Sugar in the Kolhapur spot market in top-producing Maharashtra state rose by 7 rupees to 3,393 rupees per 100 kg.
The key cane growing central part of Maharashtra has so far received 31 percent less rains than average, fuelling concerns over production. "Next month onwards we have festivals like Ganesh and Dussehera. These festivals are likely to boost demand," said Vedika Narvekar, a senior analyst with Angel Commodities Broking Pvt Ltd. Earlier this month, India released 400,000 tonnes of additional non-levy sugar for the September quarter, over and above the previous allocation of 4.766 million tonnes.