Pune: Flood and drought in Maharashtra have impacted the sugarcane crushing season in the state. As per reports of Commissioner (Sugar), Maharashtra, two sugar mills, one in Ahmednagar and another in Aurangabad District have closed their operations mainly due to non-availability of labour for harvesting and less availability of sugarcane.
The Kedareshwar sugar mill in Ahmednagar region and Sharad Paithan sugar mill in Aurangabad region have completed operations for the season, crushing around 1,790 tonne to 2,660 tonne of cane.
It is expected that most of the mills will finish crushing by January end this year. Crushing season in Maharashtra commenced late this year. Sugar mills in Maharashtra officially kick-started sugarcane crushing season on November 22 after they got permission from state Governor BS Koshyari in the absence of a functional state government.
Sugar production in Maharashtra is down in the season 2019-2020 as the state had been gripped with drought and flood. According to the ISMA, In Maharashtra, 137 sugar mills, which are in operation, have produced 16.50 lakh tonnes till 31st December, 2019, as against 187 sugar mills which had produced 44.57 lakh tonnes last year upto same period. From the beginning of the season and till 31st December, 2019, average sugar recovery % in the State stands at 10% as against 10.5% achieved for the corresponding period of 2018-19. This is because a part of the crushing includes the flood affected sugarcane, which lost some of its sucrose because it was waterlogged for some time.
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