The Hindu Business Line : Maharashtra sugar mills resume full-scale crushing

"Out of 154 mills, 110 have started crushing, of which 97 are cooperatives and 13 are in the private sector," the Managing Director of Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories' Federation, Mr Prakash Naiknavare, told Business Line. As per information till Saturday afternoon, mills in the State have crushed 37 lakh tonnes (lt) of cane and produced 3.5 lt of sugar during the ongoing 2006-07 season (October-September). "If you compare with the corresponding period of last season, 31 more mills have taken up crushing this season and they have crushed 13 lt addition cane and produced one lt more sugar," Mr Naiknavare said.

He, however, admitted that average sugar recovery levels were far lower than last year. "The main reason for this was the extended monsoon and lack of sunshine during September-October, which has affected sugar formation in the cane. But this would be made up," he added.

Record output

Mr Naiknavare was confident that Maharashtra's total sugar production this time would hit a record 70 lt based on a total cane crushing of 600 lt and an average recovery of 11.6 per cent.

During the 2005-06 season, the State produced 52 lt of sugar and crushed 446 lt of cane. Maharashtra's 70 lt would account for a little less than a third of the country's projected output of 225-230 lt.

According to him, it is not production but price realisations that would be the main issue for the industry in the days ahead. "Ex-factory realisations in Maharashtra now are in the range of Rs 1,545 to Rs 1,590 per quintal. This is mainly due to the Centre releasing a free sale quota of 10.91 lt for mills in Maharashtra during this October-December quarter, against 7.41 lt during the same quarter last year. The wrong timing of the ban on sugar exports have added to the problem," he noted.