Due to good monsoon rain this year, sugar mills in Maharashtra have reported about 60 per cent increase in sugarcane crushing and a 56 per cent jump in sugar production over last year.

Numbers collated by the State government show that sugarcane crushing in Maharashtra has risen to 166.55 lakh tonnes (lt) against previous season’s 104.11 lt. Sugar production increased to 154.99 lakh quintals from 99.11 lakh quintals registered last year.

Sources in the State Co-operative Department said that last year due to the poor monsoon, only 138 sugar mills were operating in December. But this year 171 mills are open. This year, however, the sugar recovery factor is marginally lower at 9.31 per cent (9.52 per cent).

Among the seven sugar-producing regions of Maharashtra, Pune tops the list processing 66.10 lt of sugarcane, followed by sugar mills in the Kolhapur region, which processed 38.55 lt of sugarcane. But the sugar recovery rate in Kolhapur is 10.34 per cent — the highest in the State.

Sources added that due to drought-like conditions in 2015 and 2016, the area under sugarcane was much lower. This year, higher acreage and good rainfall have boosted sugarcane production.