During April-December 2020, output of MMF
declined by 18.2 per cent y-o-y to 1,319 thousand tonnes on a cumulative basis.
The production had fallen sharply in the initial 3 months of FY21 due to COVID-19
induced lockdown restrictions. In the following months, the decrease in output
reduced and, in fact, the production increased by 10.3 per cent in September
2020 backed by easing of lockdown restrictions. In the months of
October-December 2020, the output however declined but the fall in production was
restricted to the range of 3-6 per cent during these months. The improvement in
MMF output in the past few months is on account of unlocking of economy which
is believed to have supported the demand for MMF.
Chart 1: Trend in MMF production (Apr-Dec
20)
