Sugar mills across the country have produced 329.91 lakh tonnes of sugar till April 15, 2022, which is 38.09 lakh tonnes higher than 291.82 lakh tonnes produced at the same time last year, the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) stated. As compared to 170 sugar mills that were crushing sugarcane in April last year, there are 305 sugar mills crushing this year. 

ISMA in a statement stated that Maharashtra has recorded sugar production of 126.48 lakh tonnes till April 15 compared with 103.95 lakh tonnes produced last year during same period. This is almost 22.53 lakh tonnes higher than last year. In the current 2021-22 sugar season, 45 mills have reportedly closed their crushing operations in Maharashtra and 153 sugar mills are operating currently. On the corresponding date in the last season, only 54 mills were in operation in the State, which went on to produce another 2.55 lakh tonnes of sugar last year. 

In Uttar Pradesh, 120 sugar mills that were in operation, have produced 94.41 lakh tonnes of sugar. Out of 120 mills, 52 have stopped crushing operations. A similar number of mills operated last year in the State and had produced 100.86 lakh tonnes as of April 15, 2021. 

In the case of Karnataka, 72 sugar mills have produced 59 lakh tonnes of sugar. As many as seven mills are still operating in the State. 

In Tamil Nadu, out of 28 sugar mills that operated this season, one sugar mill has ended its crushing so far, though it might operate in the special season later in the year. As of April 15, 2022, sugar production in the State was 7.90 lakh tonnes, compared with 5.56 lakh tonnes produced in the corresponding date last year. 

Gujarat has produced 10.77 lakh tonnes of sugar with 14 sugar mills in operation, while one mill has closed for this season.  

States including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Odisha have collectively produced 31.35 lakh tonnes. Bihar, Rajasthan and Odisha have already closed their crushing operations for the current season. 

Sugar exports 

As per market reports and port information, around 80 lakh tonnes of sugar export have been contracted so far. Out of that, about 57.17 lakh tonnes have been exported during October – March period, as compared to about 31.85 lakh tonnes in the same period last year. It is also reported that about 7-8 lakh tonnes of sugar is in pipeline for export in April 2022. 

In the current year, major export destinations are Indonesia and Bangladesh, accounting for almost 44 per cent of total exports, as against 48 per cent shared collectively by Indonesia and Afghanistan last year during the corresponding period.

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