The Hindu Business Line : Record Maharashtra sugar output on cards

Scaling new heights
175 factories to crush 600 lt; average recovery seen at 11.5 per cent.

Monsoon behaviour will have little impact this season.
Major dams of Koyna, Ujni full.

New Delhi , May 10

Maharashtra's sugar output is slated to hit an all-time high of 69 lakh tonnes (lt) in the ensuing 2006-07 crushing season (October-September).

The State had achieved a peak production of 67.20 lt during the 2000-01 season, after which a combination of drought and slide in prices had severely impacted cane acreages and led to large-scale closure of mills.

In the 2004-05 season, only 101 mills were operational for an average 60 days gross, against 137 mills for 144 days in 2000-01.

Turnaround

With production plunging to 22.33 lt, many analysts had written about Maharashtra's sugar co-operatives entering an era of irreversible decline.

However, the current season had seen a turnaround, with as many as 142 mills taking up production. "We expect to end up crushing 445 lt of cane and produce 52 lt, which is much higher than the 45 lt projected initially.

Moreover, the average sugar recovery of 11.70 per cent would be the highest in our history," said Mr Prakash Naiknavare, Managing Director, Maharashtra State Co-operative Sugar Factories' Federation Ltd.

The mills to have recorded highest recoveries are the Sadashivrao Mandlik Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana (SSK) at 13.56 per cent and Chhatrapati Shahu SSK at 13.39 per cent (both in Kagal, Kolhapur), followed by the Sangli-based Hutatma Kisan Ahir SSK (13.22 per cent) and Rajarambapu SSK (12.91 per cent).

But it is in the coming season that the real rebound is anticipated. "We will have 175 factories going into operation and they would crush 600 lt, yielding, on an average recovery of 11.5 per cent, 69 lt," Mr Naiknavare claimed.

Monsoon impact

According to him, the monsoon's behaviour would not change the picture much. Seventy-five per cent of Maharashtra's cane is the 15-month pre-seasonal crop planted from August till October. Another 15 per cent comes from the 12-month `suru' crop planted in November-December and the remaining 10 per cent from the 18-month `adsali' cane planted during June-July.

"The cane to be crushed in the 2006-07 season is already 7-8 months mature and the sugar formation has more or less taken place. At the most, we will see production going down to 65 lt or, at the other end, rising to 72 lt. The good news now is that the major dams of Koyna and Ujni (which feed the main cane belt of Western Maharashtra), and Jayakwadi (Marathwada region) are full. A bad monsoon will only affect the prospects for 2007-08," Mr Naiknavare added.