Rubbishing the rumour doing the rounds in some sections of the media about shortage of sugar in SY 23-24 [ Oct -Sept] Prakash Naiknavare Managing Director of National Federation of Coop Sugar Mills asserts that the situation is contrary to the speculative projection.

A press release issued by the federation quotes him as saying-“While the El Nino has impacted in drying flurry of monsoon in some parts of Maharashtra, all other cane growing states viz, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttarakhand etc have received above normal rains which has definitely helped the grand growth stage of standing cane to gain weight & Sucrose content”

For example, Karnataka’s net sugar production which was feared to drop to 3:5 Mln Tons is actually projected to yield in excess of 4:5 Mln Tons. Uttar Pradesh, the largest sugarcane & sugar producing state is projected to surpass it’s last year’s net sugar production by a million tons.

So far as Maharashtra is concerned, after a prolonged dry spell of August, monsoon has revived in September which will help improve the health of standing crop & Sucrose content.

Parallelly there is a thought process going on that in line with past precedent, India could import a certain quantity of raw sugar to supplement cane crushing in the areas where climatic impact is likely to reduce crushable sugarcane.

This assumes importance in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka & Gujarat where the crushing capacity has gone up. Raw sugar if used along with cane for crushing will not only enable mills to attain economic scale of operation, but also will help increase net sugar production.