New Delhi: According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), sugar mills across the country have produced 264.65 lakh tonnes of sugar between 1st October 2019 and 15th May 2020. This is 61.54 lakh tonnes less than 326.19 lakh tonnes produced at the same time last year. However, as compared to 38 sugar mills which were crushing sugarcane on 15th May 2019, 63 sugar mills are crushing sugarcane on 15th May’ 2020 this year.
U.P. sugar mills have produced 122.28 lakh tonnes of sugar as on 15th May’ 2020, which is 5.48 lakh tonnes higher than the production of 116.80 lakh tonnes produced by them last year on the corresponding date. This production is the highest ever sugar production in the State, surpassing 120.45 Lakh tonnes produced in 2017-18 SS. Out of 119 mills operated this year, 73 mills have ended their crushing and 46 mills continue their operations, compared to 28 mills which were operating on 15th May’ 2019 last year.
Factories in East UP have already closed their crushing operations for the current season. About 40 % of the factories in Central U.P. are operating, while about 70% of the factories are operating in West UP. Most of the operating factories are expected to close by the end of this month, however, a few may continue till 1st week of June’ 2020.
Crushing season has got prolonged in the State as most of the Gur / Khandsari units have closed their operations prematurely due to lockdown, due to which significant portion of cane that would have gone to them, have been diverted to the sugar mills for crushing in the current season. Almost 80% of the Gur/ Khandsari units in the State are primarily located in Western and Central U.P., thereby increasing supply of sugarcane for crushing in the sugar mills in these regions of the State.
In Maharashtra, sugar production till 15th May 2020 was 60.87 lakh tonnes, compared with 107.15 lakh tonnes produced in 2018-19 SS., almost 46.3 lakh tons less than last year. In the current 2019-20 SS, 145 mills have already closed their crushing operations in the State and only 1 sugar mill is operating, while last year on the corresponding date, crushing season had already concluded by 30th April’ 2019.
All the operating sugar mills in Karnataka had closed their crushing operations by 30th April’ 2020 and have produced 33.82 lakh tonnes of sugar. However, few mills might operate in the special season commencing July’ 2020. Last year during the special season, Karnataka mills had produced 1.05 lakh tonnes of sugar. As compared to the above, 43.25 lakh tonnes was produced in 2018-19 SS on the corresponding date.
As on date, in Tamil Nadu, 9 mills are in operation, out of 24 sugar mills which operated this season. Till 15th May’ 2020, sugar production in the State was 5.65 lakh tonnes, compared with 7.16 lakh tonnes produced on the corresponding date last year. Of the 32 sugar mills, 30 mills had ended their operations and only 2 mills were in operation as on 15th May 2019, last year. Last year, during the special season, 2.13 lakh tons were produced by mills in Tamil Nadu.
All the factories in Gujarat have closed their crushing operations for the current season and have produced 9.28 lakh tonnes of sugar as compared to 11.21 lakh tonnes of sugar produced in 2018-19 SS.
The remaining States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Odisha have collectively produced 32.75 lakh tonnes till 15th May, 2020. As on date, 5 mills are operating in Haryana, while 1 mill is operating in Uttarakhand, which are expected to close their crushing operations shortly.
