Sugar production in the country climbed to 28.18 million tonnes (mt) by the end of last month — nearly 9 mt more than output in corresponding period in the previous sugar season — a release from the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said on Tuesday.

This was expected as the estimated sugar production in the current season is slated to be 45 per cent higher, it said.

The glut in production, which brought down the price of the sweetener in the market, however, hit the farmers most.

Ex-mill price of sugar is hovering around ₹3,000 per quintal, which is ₹500-600 below the cost of production.

According to ISMA, cane price arrears of over 14 days across the country rose to an estimated ₹16,000-17,000 crore by March-end.

The arrears in UP stood at ₹7,200 crore; ₹2,500 crore each in Maharashtra and Karnataka; while mills in other sugar-producing States owed farmers a total of ₹4,000 crore.

Of the 524 sugar mills which were operating during the current season, 193 mills have stopped crushing and remaining 331 sugar mills were in operation till March 31. As many as 187 sugar mills which were in operation in Maharashtra produced 10.13 mt of sugar till end March.

The sugar mills in UP, on the other hand, produced 9.54 mt. The sugar mills in Karnataka have produced 3.56 mt in the current season so far.

Though the government has announced export of 2 million tonnes of sugar under the Minimum Indicative Export Quota scheme, the best FOB price at the port offered by importers is around $350 per tonne as the global sugar market is depressed, IMSA said.