In a press release National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories (NFCSFL) has claimed this time round 149 sugar factories across the country have so far crushed 54.61 lakh tonnes of sugarcane and produced 4.25 lakh tonnes of sugar. This exceeds last year’s sugar production by 3.20 tonnes during the same period.
As expected, Maharashtra has taken the lead in crushing sugarcane in the current season as its 61 factories have produced 1.65 lakh tonnes new sugar by crushing 23.57 lakh tonnes sugarcane with average 7 per cent sugar recovery till now. Maharashtra’s net sugar production is expected to be 95 lakh tonnes, an increase of 33.30 lakh tonnes over 61.71 lakh tonnes achieved last year.
Maharashtra is followed by Karnataka where it’s 18 mills have crushed 15.61 lakh tonnes of cane with an average of 8.65 per cent sugar recovery and have produced 1.35 lakh tonnes of new sugar. At the end of the season, 43 lakh tonnes sugar is estimated to be produced by Karnataka. New sugar production is estimated to be 8 lakh tonnes more than last year’s production of 35 lakh tonnes.
In Uttar Pradesh, 50 mills have crushed 9.41 lakh tonnes of sugarcane and have produced 80,000 tonnes of new sugar at an average recovery of 8.50 per cent. By the end of the season, 123 lakh tonnes of new sugar is expected to be produced, which would be 3.35 lakh tonnes less than last year’s record sugar production of 126.35 lakh tonnes. Thus, Uttar Pradesh continues to be the largest sugar producer on the National sugar map.
Gujarat’s 13 mills have started & crushed 2 lakh tonnes cane to produce 10,000 tonnes new sugar at an average recovery of 5%. End season estimated sugar production from Gujarat would be 10 lakh tonnes against last year’s production of 9.30 lakh tonnes.
Tamil Nadu is on a recovery path with 4 mills having started their crushing season have crushed 4 lakh tonnes cane & have produced 35,000 Tonnes new sugar at an average recovery of 8.7%. End season estimated sugar production from Tamil Nadu would be 7 lakh tonnes.
Season in all other states is in the process of starting. Production numbers of these states would be covered in the next report.