Indian mills produced 26.5 million tonnes of sugar between October and May, down 19 percent from a year earlier, due to lower output in the drought-hit western state of Maharashtra, the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said on Monday.

The country is the world's biggest sugar producer and lower output could support global prices.

Mills in Maharashtra produced 6 million tonnes of sugar from Oct. 1 to May 15, down from 10.7 million tonnes during the same period a year ago, the ISMA said in a statement.

Most of India's sugar mills have stopped crushing operations, the industry body said.