New Delhi- Maharashtra, India's largest sugar producing state by volume, has entered into contracts for export of around 400,000 metric tons of sugar, both raws and whites, in the marketing year that began on Oct. 1, a sugar industry executive said Tuesday.

The sugar exports of all Indian states are together estimated to have totaled around 1.8 million tons in 2006-07.

"We plan to export 1.5 million tons of white sugar this year, while around 700,000-800,000 tons of raws have also been targeted to be sold," Prakash Naiknavare, managing director of Maharashtra State Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories said.

He said the state is projected to crush 84.4 million tons of cane next year, up from 79.8 million tons in 2006-07.

He said Maharashtra is likely to produce 9.6 million tons sugar in 2007-08, up from 9.1 million tons this year.

"We had earlier projected to produce around 9.7 million tons of sugar in 2007-08, but had to scale down the estimate due to low recoveries," Naiknavare said.

[Source: Dow Jones Newswires]