Sugarcane crushing season has picked up momentum in Maharashtra as the majority of sugar mills have started operations.
According to data from the Sugar Commissioner’s office, the Pune division leads the state in sugar production. As of November 29, 2023, Pune division has produced 30.89 lakh quintals of sugar, Kolhapur division 21.94 lakh quintals, Solapur division 26.86 lakh quintals, Ahmednagar division 17.6 lakh quintals, Aurangabad division 11.46 lakh quintals, Nanded division16.54 lakh quintals, and Amaravati division 1.46 lakh quintals.
As per the Sugar Commissioner’s data, in the ongoing 2023-24 season, 172 sugar mills have started the sugarcane crushing operations. This includes 84 cooperative and 88 private mills, with cumulative sugarcane crushing of 161.86 lakh tonnes. The state has produced 126.75 lakh quintals of sugar so far, with an average sugar recovery rate of 7.83%.
Comparatively, during the same period in the previous season, 188 sugar mills were operational, resulting in the crushing of 226.11 lakh tons of sugarcane and the production of 196.47 lakh quintals of sugar.
