Pune: Sugar millers from Maharashtra, who have agreed to an early beginning of the crushing season as directed by the central government, have demanded a compensation of .₹ 500/tonne of cane crushed as crushing of premature cane reduces the sugar output.

Typically, sugar mills begin their crushing operations after Diwali, when the migrating harvesting labour is ready to leave their homes. However, the central government, afraid of sugar prices rising around Diwali time as the country has just enough stock to meet its domestic requirements, has directed the sugar industry to commence the 2017-18 crushing season early October. The Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) has agreed to the early schedule and projected that the country can produce 8 lakh tonnes of sugar in October, with Maharashtra (3.9 lakh tonne) and Uttar Pradesh (2.9 lakh tonnes) contributing the most.

The West Indian Sugar Mills Association (WISMA), an association of private sugar mills from Maharashtra, has written to the Ministry of Food about the difficulties of early crushing. “Normally, Maharashtra’s crushing season begins after Diwali when the cane maturity is better and rainy season is over. The sugar recovery rate in November is about 10%-11%, which drops to 8.5% -9%, if the cane is crushed in October,” WISMA wrote to the ministry. The sugar mills have claimed that their sugar recovery percentage will drop by 1.5-2% and would stretch the finances of the mills if they were to advance crushing schedule.