NEW DELHI:A month-long delay in the commencement of cane crushing during the current sugar season (October 2013-September 2014) has cut sugar production by 50 per cent over the similar period from the previous year.

In projections made by Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), 426 mills produced 2.4 million tonne of sugar till December 15. This is 50 per cent less than when compared to the previous year. Production on November 30 this year was 66 per cent less than the previous year. Mills in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, major sugar producing states, started crushing in late November due to cane pricing dispute between farmers, millers and respective state governments.

Maharashtra, the largest producer, has crushed about 12.8 million tonne of cane to produce 1.2 million tonne of sugar, which is 35 per cent less than the past year. About 150 mills have started crushing this year against 155 mills in the previous year.

In Uttar Pradesh, 110 sugar mills started crushing against 116 in the previous year during the period. The state has produced about 0.23 million tonne of sugar which is about 78 per cent less than the previous year.

As many as 55 sugar mills have started crushing in Karnataka against 56 during the past year during the period. Mills in the state produced 0.47 million tonne of sugar which is about 57 per cent less than last year.

In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, 30 and 15 mills have started crushing, which produced about 0.95 lakh tonne and 0.60 lakh tonne of sugar which is about 44 per cent & 70 per cent less than the previous year.

From October 1 to November 30 this year, India imported about 0.27 lakh tonne of sugar, while about 2.27 lakh tonne have been exported. ISMA has projected about 25 mt of production for the 2013-14 season against 25.1 million tonne during the previous season.