NEW YORK (Reuters) – Declining sugar production from major Asian producers in 2019/20 is seen contributing to a global supply deficit for the year, broker INTL FCStone said on Tuesday.

Production of white sugar in India, Asia’s top producer, is seen falling to 28.6 million tonnes in 2019/20 from its record-large 2018/19 crop of 32.9 million tonnes, the broker said in a presentation at an industry event during New York Sugar Week.

Thailand’s production of raw sugar in 2019/20 is seen falling to 13.5 million tonnes from 14.8 million in the previous season, due to growing competition from more lucrative crops like cassava.

Chinese production is seen falling to 10.1 million tonnes from 10.6 million tonnes in the previous year, while EU output is seen declining slightly to 17 million tonnes from 17.1 million.

Such declines are seen contributing to a global supply deficit of 5.7 million tonnes in 2019/20 compared to the small deficit of 0.3 million tonnes seen in the previous cycle.