Indian sugar futures were steady on Tuesday as lower-level buying offset surplus supplies and a drop in overseas prices. The key June contract on India's National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange was down 0.07 percent at 2,994 rupees ($55.26) per 100 kg at 0833 GMT, after hitting a contract low of 2,971 rupees in the previous session.
"Bulk consumers are raising purchases at lower levels, but they are still holding lower inventory than normal," a Mumbai-based sugar dealer said. "The fall in raw sugar prices in the world market is lucrative for local refiners. They may raise imports," he said. May raw sugar futures in New York fell 0.45 percent to 17.79 cents a lb.
Demand for sugar from ice-cream and beverage makers typically rises during the summer. Spot sugar fell 5 rupees to 3,034 rupees per 100 kg in the Kolhapur market in the top-producing Maharashtra state. India is likely to produce 24.6 million tonnes of sugar in 2012-13, an industry body said, against an annual demand of about 23 million tonnes. India's sugar output eased 2 percent to 24.1 million tonnes in the first six-and-a-half months of the season that started on October 1, the Indian Sugar Mills Association said in a statement.