Bumper production in sugar mills
The country’s sugar industry has performed brilliantly in the first two months of the sugar season that started from October. If you are fond of eating sweets or keep an eye on market inflation, then this news can be a relief for you. According to the latest data, the country’s sugar production in October and November this year has increased by 43% compared to last year.
The main reasons for this surge are said to be improvement in sugar recovery from sugarcane and faster crushing of sugarcane in the mills. Increasing production directly means that there will be no shortage of sugar in the country and we will be in a position to feed sugar to the world.
Maharashtra and UP took command
According to the report of Indian Sugar and Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA), by the end of November, the country’s mills have produced a total of 4.1 million tonnes of sugar. By the same time last year, this figure was only 2.88 million tonnes.
Talking about states, Maharashtra has played the biggest role in this. In Maharashtra, the country’s largest sugar producing state, production has increased more than three times to 1.7 million tonnes compared to last year. At the same time, mills in Uttar Pradesh have also performed well and production there has increased by 9% to 1.4 million tonnes.
Why was the pace slow in Karnataka?
While mills are running at full capacity in Maharashtra and UP, the situation was slightly different in Karnataka, South India. Sugar production here decreased from 8.12 lakh tonnes last year to 7.74 lakh tonnes.
A major reason for this decline is the farmers’ movement going on there. Farmers were protesting demanding increase in the price of sugarcane, due to which the crushing work in the mills was disrupted and production was affected.
Recovery rate improved, path of export difficult
National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories (NFCSF) said that this time the quality of sugarcane is better. The recovery rate of sugar from sugarcane stalk has improved to 8.51%, which was 8.29% last year. This is technically good news for the mills.
NFCSF believes that by reducing diversion of sugar for ethanol production, we will be left with surplus sugar. Therefore, the government should allow export of additional 10 lakh tonnes of sugar in the current season. However, it will not be easy for the mill owners to export because the prices of sugar in the international market are lower than the Indian domestic market.
On the other hand, ISMA has appealed to the government to increase the floor price of sugar in the domestic market. They argue that this price has been stable for the last six years, while the cost of production is continuously increasing.