As on 15th February 2019, 507 sugar mills in the country have produced 219.30 lac tons of sugar, as compared to 203.55 lac tons 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.
In Maharashtra, sugar production till 15th February 2019 was 82.98 lac tons, compared with 74.74 lac tons produced last year same period. In the current 2018-19 SS, 6 mills have closed their crushing operations in the State while 187 sugar mills are operating, as against 183 mills operated last year on the corresponding date. Due to the early start of mills in Maharashtra, the mills therein are expected to close earlier than last year, especially when the sugar production from Maharashtra will be less than last year.
In U.P. 117 sugar mills are in operation and they have produced 63.93 lac tons of sugar till 15th February 2019, compared with 64.54 lac tons produced by 119 mills on the corresponding date of last year. The sugar recovery achieved this season is about 0.77% more than what was achieved so far during the last season, but the yield per hectare is lower than last year, because of which the total production in U.P. will be less than last year.
In case of Karnataka, till 15th February 2019, mills have produced 38.74 lac tons of sugar, 10 mills have closed their operations in the State while 57 mills are in operation. During the corresponding period last year, 52 mills had produced 30.73 lac tons sugar.
In case of Tamil Nadu, 33 sugar mills are in operation and have produced 3.50 lac tons of sugar, as compared to 2.90 lac tons produced by 28 sugar mills in 2017-18 SS on the corresponding date.
Gujarat has produced 7.78 lac tons of sugar till 15th February 2019 with 16 sugar mills in operation. Last year, 17 sugar mills were in operation and they had produced 7.25 lac tons of sugar on the same date.
In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, 24 sugar mills have produced 4.50 lac tons as on 15th February 2019, as compared to 4.60 lac tons produced by 23 sugar mills on the corresponding date last season.
In Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, sugar production till 15th February 2019 has been in the order of 4.90 lac tons,2.15 lac tons, 3.75 lac tons, 3.60 lac tons and 3.20 lac tons, respectively.
