Sugar mills across the country produced 273.47 lakh tonnes (LT) of sugar till March 15, nearly 6 per cent more than 258.2 LT produced during the corresponding period in the previous sugar season, said a release from the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) on Monday. While 154 mills have closed crushing operations whereas 373 are still crushing.

Maharashtra has produced a little over 100 LT, which is nearly 6 LT more than 93.84 LT produced in the same period last year. Sugar mills numbering 85 have completed crushing and 110 mills are still in operation. The production of sugar in Uttar Pradesh, on the other hand, was 84.14 LT which was more or less same as that in the corresponding period in the previous season.

Karnataka has recorded a near 20 per cent growth in production than the previous season so far. As against 35.10 LT produced till March 15 last year, 67 mills in the south Indian State produced 42.45 LT of sugar and 11 mills are still continuing crushing operations, the ISMA release said.

In Gujarat, where 14 mills are still in operation, has so far produced 9.8 LT of sugar, nearly 9 per cent more than 9.10 LT last year. The cumulative production from 29 mills in Tamil Nadu was 5.4 LT, around 25 per cent more than that during the same period last year. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana mills produced 6.5 LT so far and majority of these 25 mills are still crushing.

Other sugar producing States including Bihar, Haryana, and Punjab cumulatively contributed 24.7 LT of sugar till March 15, said the sugar industry body.

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