Sugar production in the first quarter of sugar season (October-December 2018) has increased 7%. As on December 31, 2018, as many as 501 sugar mills were in operation in the country and had produced 110.52 lakh tonne, against 103.6 lakh tonne produced by 505 mills as on December 31, 2017. The slightly higher output of 6.96 lakh tonne was because mills in Maharashtra and Karnataka started crushing earlier this year.
However, due to substantially lower rainfall and white grub infestation, Maharashtra will produce significantly lower output this year as compared to last year. Overall, the country is expected to produce much less sugar this season as compared to last season. In Uttar Pradesh, 117 sugar mills were in operation and they crushed about 286 lakh tonne of sugarcane and produced 31-lakh tonne sugar as on December 31, 2018, with an average recovery of 10.9%. In 2017-18 SS, 116 sugar mills were in operation and had crushed around 328 lakh tonne of cane to produce 33.3 lakh tonne of sugar with an average recovery of 10.1%. However, yield per hectare is lower than the last season and hence the production in UP is estimated to be lower than last season for the whole year.
In Maharashtra, 184 mills, which were in operation, have produced 43.98 lakh tonne of sugar during the period under review, against 183 mills which produced 38.39 lakh tonne last year. From the season’s beginning and till December 31, 2018, average sugar recovery in the state was 10.50% as against 10.23% achieved for the corresponding period of 2017-18 SS. Due to issues in cane availability in the state and early start, the mills therein would be closing much earlier than last year. Nearly 63 sugar mills in Karnataka were in operation and had produced 20.45 lakh tonne of sugar, as compared to 16.83 lakh tonne produced by 63 mills in 2017-18 SS as on December 31, 2017.
In Gujarat, 16 mills were operating for 2018-19 SS and had produced 4.3 lakh tonne of sugar. In 2017-18 SS, 17 mills were in operation that had produced 3.77-lakh tonne sugar.
According to Indian Sugar Mills Association (Isma), 23 mills in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana had produced 2.15 lakh tonne of sugar till December-end of 2018.
While, 25 mills, which were in operation on December end of 2017, had produced 2.10 lakh tonne of sugar on the corresponding date.
Tamil Nadu had produced 1.40 lakh tonne of sugar till December-end of 2018 by as many as 27 mills against 96,000 tonne during the corresponding period the previous year with the same number of mills.
Mills of Bihar have produced 2.30 lakh tonne, Haryana 1.60 lakh tonne, Punjab 1.20 lakh tonne, Uttarakhand 87,000 tonne and Madhya Pradesh 1.20 lakh tonne till December-end of 2018.
Based on satellite images of the remaining harvestable sugarcane area, trend of recovery, yield and drawal percentage of sugarcane achieved so far, Isma will review the estimate of output for the 2018-19 SS in the third week of January 2019 and, if required, will revise its estimates, said an Isma statement on Friday.