MEDIA RELEASE: SUGAR PRODUCTION REVISION
However, several areas in U.P. have had untimely rainfall in September 2018 which has adversely affected the growth of the sugarcane at this very important maturity period. Further, some areas have reported water-logging and in some parts of Western U.P., there has been sugarcane lodging also.
Due to the above reasons, the sugarcane yields will be significantly lower than what was estimated about 3-4 months back and also lower than what was achieved in the previous sugar season. At the same time, the sugar recovery will also get adversely impacted. Accordingly, ISMA has revised its sugar production estimates for U.P. from 130-135 lac tons made in July 2018 to 121 lac tons. This is almost similar to 120.45 lac tons produced by U.P. sugar mills in the last sugar season.
The yields which were around 108 tons/ha in the last year were expected to drop to around 90 tons/ha because of larger proportion of ratoon crop in the overall mix.
These estimates were made considering a normal rainfall during July – September 2018 which has a big influence on the sugarcane yields and sugar recovery. However, during the last 2-3 months, the rainfall in most of the sugarcane areas in Maharashtra has been substantially lower than last year same period as well as below normal average of the last three years.
In addition to the above, white grub has infested a significant area in the Districts of Ahmednagar, Solapur and Marathwada and to a lesser extent in Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara and Pune. In some small areas within the above Districts, the crop has been so seriously infested that either the farmers have uprooted them or the crop has not survived. Because of the impact of the lower rainfall and the white grub infestation, the sugarcane yield in Maharashtra is expected to be lower by almost 16-18% as compared to what was estimated 3-4 months back.
Further, the sugar recovery is also expected to be not only lower to what was expected earlier, but even slightly lower over the last season. Therefore, despite substantial increase in acreage in Maharashtra, the sugar production now estimated from the State of Maharashtra will be much lower than last year. As compared to the production of 107.23 lac tons in 2017-18 SS, the sugar production expected from Maharashtra in the current 2018-19 SS is around 95 lac tons.