Maharashtra’s cane crushing season of 2016-17 has come to an end. Barely 2 of the 148 mills are operating and the total sugar production is not expected to cross 420 lakh tonne, top officials of the Maharashtra Sugar Commissionerate said. As on date, as per the latest crushing report of the Commissionerate, the mills have so far crushed some 371.08 lakh tonne cane to produce 416.53 lakh tonne sugar at a recovery rate of 11.23%. Senior officials of the Commissionerate said that the production may not cross 420 lakh tonne. This is among the shorter seasons in Maharashtra coming after two consecutive droughts.
Factories in the Marathwada region were the first to shut down and closed operations by January-end, followed by mills in the Solapur region. Barely two mills are currently operational, which are likely to close down in a couple of days. Around 150 mills had participated in the crushing season.
Although this season has been short and has produced barely 416 lakh tonne sugar so far, sugar millers in Maharashtra are confident of regaining the top position as the country’s largest sugar producer in the coming season of 2017-18. Uttar Pradesh has pipped Maharashtra to become the top sugar producer of the country for the season of 2016-17.
The millers are planning to meet Union finance minister Arun Jaitley soon with a demand for rescheduling of loans taken by them.