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Sugar mills in the country produced 108.85 lakh tonnes of sugar till January 15, nearly 26 per cent lower than the 147.40 lakh tonnes produced during the corresponding period last year, a statement from Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said on Friday.
As many as 440 mills are engaged in crushing operation currently, compared to 511 mills in the same period in the last sugar season. India’s sugar season starts in October and goes on till September next year.
In Uttar Pradesh, as many as 119 sugar mills are involved in crushing currently, and they have produced 43.78 lakh tonnes of sugar at an average recovery of 10.83 per cent. This is marginally higher than the 41.93 lakh tonnes of sugar produced by 117 mills during the same period last season. The average recovery rate was a tad higher last year at 10.97 per cent.
Maharashtra, which had a slow start to the crushing season due to damage caused by heavy rains and floods, has so far produced 25.51 lakh tonnes of sugar. In comparison, the western Indian State produced 57.25 lakh tonnes of sugar during the corresponding period last year. Compared to 139 mills this year, 189 mills were in operation during the same period in the previous season. According to officials in Maharashtra, three sugar mills ― one each in Ahmednagar, Aurangabad and Beed districts ― closed their operations already, mainly due to non-availability of labour for harvesting and fall in sugarcane availability.
On other other hand, Karnataka, another major sugar-producing State affected by rains, produced 21.90 lakh tonnes of sugar, against 26.76 lakh tonnes in the same period of the previous season. Currently, 63 mill are crushing sugarcane in Karnataka.
Gujarat produced 3.72 lakh tonnes (5.42 lakh tonnes y-o-y), Tamil Nadu 1.5 lakh tonnes 2.29 lakh tonnes, Bihar 3.3 lakh tonnes, Punjab 2.05 lakh tonnes, Haryana two lakh tonnes, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana 1.85 lakh tonnes, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh 1.63 lakh tonnes and Uttarakhand 1.51 lakh tonnes, ISMA said.
The total finalised quantity of ethanol to be supplied after the first tender stood at 156 crore litres, of which 61.63 crore litres of ethanol are to be produced from B heavy molasses and 10.6 crore litres from sugarcane juice, respectively. Oil marketing companies are expected to float the second tender any time soon.
According to ISMA, cane price arrears stood at around ₹4,500 crore as on November 30 last year, against ₹2,500 crore in November end 2018.
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