Sugar production has increased by 2.7 per cent to 165.9 lakh tonnes till February 15 during the current marketing year that started in October last year.
“The country has produced 165.9 lakh tonnes of sugar up to February 15, 2013. This is about 2.7 per cent more than the same period last year,” Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said in a statement today.
ISMA attributed the increase in sugar output to higher sugarcane crushing and better recovery. The production is up even though there are 24 less number of mills operating now compared to last year.
“Till date, almost 1,680 lakh tonnes of sugarcane have been crushed with an average recovery of 9.8 per cent from October 2012. The country has crushed about 1.7 per cent more sugarcane than last year along with better recoveries,” ISMA said.
ISMA has projected 243 lakh tonnes production for the 2012-13 marketing year (October-September), which is 20 lakh tonnes less than last year.
According to ISMA, Maharashtra has produced 57.8 lakh tonnes, which is about 3 per cent more than last year. Uttar Pradesh has produced 43.6 lakh tonnes, which is about 4 per cent less than the year-ago period.
Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are the two leading sugar producing States in the country.
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have produced 7.8 lakh tonnes and 7.3 lakh tonnes, respectively, which is about 3 per cent and 1 per cent more than last year. Karnataka has produced about 28.3 lakh tonnes of sugar.
“Maharashtra and Karnataka have already started showing signs of lower sugarcane availability for the current season, 2012-13,” ISMA said.