Kolhapur: Sugar mills in Maharashtra have crushed over 900 lakh tonne of cane till date indicating the record sugar output this season.
As per the data released by the state sugar commissionerate, the sugar mills from the state have crushed 939 lakh tonne of cane till March 24 and produced 979 lakh quintal of sugar. With this, the state is all set to break its record of cane crushing and sugar production for the past decade.. Earlier the mills had crushed 953 metric tonne sugarcane in 2018-19.
Sugar mills in the state had crushed 464 lakh tonne of cane till March 15 last year. Last year 144 sugar mills were involved in the cane crushing activities as against 188 this year.
Bumper sugarcane production due to good rainfall and favourable climate has led to an increase in the number of sugar mills participating in cane crushing, said PG Medhe, a sugar expert.
“Maharashtra currently has around 11 lakh hectare under cane cultivation which was around eight lakh hectare the previous year. Around 1,100 lakh quintal of sugar will be produced by the end of crushing season,” he said.
Out of 188 sugar mills that had obtained license for crushing for the current season only 61 factories have stopped crushing.
