A total of 440 sugar mills have produced 47.86 lakh tonnes (lt) of the sweetener till December 15 for the sugar season 2015-16, against 42.29 lt produced by 453 mills in the same period last year, registering an increase of 13.2 per cent.
Also, about 2.5 lt of sugar has been physically exported by mills, and contracts have been entered into for about 5 lt till December 15, the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said in a release.
However, ISMA said mills across the country were still losing ₹2-3/kg over their cost of production despite a slight increase in domestic ex-mill prices of the sweetener.
Overall, till December 15, sugar production has been higher in most producing States, except in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
In Maharashtra, 164 sugar mills that are crushing cane have produced 22.50 lt till December 15, against 166 sugar mills producing 20.73 lt last year.
In Uttar Pradesh, where 105 out of 119 working sugar mills had commenced crushing operations, 8.52 lt of the sweetener has been produced so far, compared with 7.94 lt produced by 114 mills last year.
ISMA said all the 19 sugar mills in Gujarat were in operation, producing 3.25 lt till December 15, against 18 mills producing 2.68 lt in the same period last year.
South scenarioThe third largest sugar producing State – Karnataka – has an output of 10.29 lt so far – about 3.23 lt higher than in the same period last year.
In this sugar season, 61 mills in the State are in operation compared to 62 last year.
However, in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, only 18 sugar mills could start crushing till December 15, producing 0.92 lt against 1.35 lt produced by 23 sugar mills last year.
In Tamil Nadu, six mills were in operation and had produced 0.60 lt against 0.35 lt produced by seven mills as on December 15, 2014.
In Bihar, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, 11, 16, 14 and 16 sugar mills were in operation respectively, and had produced 0.54 lt, 0.20 lt, 0.40 lt and 0.30 lt, respectively.