India’s sugar production took a jump of 7.7% in 2018-19 season(till 15 Feb) with gross production of about 219.30 lakh tonnes compared to 203.55 lakh tonnes over the same period in the last season, report released by Indian Sugar Mills Association(ISMA) said.
A release from ISMA said: “As on 15th February, 2019, 507 sugar mills in the country have produced 219.30 lakh tonnes of sugar, as compared to 203.55 lakh tonnes produced by 494 mills on the corresponding date last year. Higher production this year is mainly because Maharashtra and Karnataka sugar mills started their crushing earlier this year. Overall, the country is expected to produce less sugar this season as compared to last season.”
As per the ISMA release, the production in Maharashtra, 82.98 lakh tonnes compared to 74.74 lakh tonnes in the previous season. This was due to the early crushing by mills of Maharashtra. Also, 6 mills stopped their production during the same period taking count of running mills to 183.
In Karnataka, 38.74 lakh tonnes was produced in current season till 15 Feb, just a marginal higher than the production registered in the last season. 10 mills winded up their operations, with just 57 mills currently operating.
In UP, India’s second largest sugar producer state, the sugar production marginally declined with current year yield at 63.93 lakh tonnes compared to 64.54 lakh tonnes over the same period in last year.
In Tamil Nadu, 33 sugar mills produced around 3.50 lakh tonnes of sugar taking the gross production significantly higher then the previous production of 2.90 lakh tonnes.
In Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh ,sugar production till 15th February 2019 has been in the order of 4.90 lakh tonnes,2.15 lakh tonnes, 3.75 lakh tonnes, 3.60 lakh tonnes and 3.20 lakh tonnes, 7.78 lakh tonnes, 4.50 lakh tonnes respectively.
Government hikes Minimum Support Price(MSP) by ₹2, from the previous MSP of ₹29 per KG. This will surely generate more revenue for sugar mills and help them in payment of cane price arrears.