Id: 109 Name: Media Release - Sugar Production figure upto 28th February 2014 Venue: New Delhi Date: 04 Mar 2014 Event Pdf: Till 28th Feb, 2014, 168.6 lakh tons of sugar has been produced, which was 188.4 lakh tons during same period last year. The gap has narrowed down further from 13% to 11% over last fortnight. 460 mills  are still crushing sugarcane, which is 23 more than last year. Maharashtra has crushed 515 lakh tons of sugarcane to produce 57.1 lakh tons of sugar with 11.1% of recovery. However, at the same time, last year sugar mills in the State had crushed 590 lakh tons of sugarcane to produce 65.7 lakh tons of sugar with 11.15% of recovery. Till date, 25 mills have closed their operations for the SS 2013-14, while last year 36 mills had stopped crushing by 28th Feb. In Ahmednagar zone - 7, Pune- 6, Aurangabad -6, Nanded-6 have closed. It is expected that sugar recovery in Maharashtra will be slightly better in SS 2013-14 as compared to last year’s over all recovery of 11.41%. Uttar Pradesh has produced 42.75 lakh tons of sugar from 475 lakh tons of sugarcane crush with 8.99% recovery. Last year during same corresponding period, UP sugar mills had crushed 560 lakh tons of sugarcane to produce about 50.09 lakh tons of sugar with 8.94% recovery.  All 119 mills are still under operation against 118 during same period last year. Karnataka has produced 31.50 lakh tons of sugar which is about 3% higher than last year. On 28th Feb, 2014, 56 mills were crushing which is higher than the 36 of last year during same corresponding period. Gujarat has produced 8.60 lakh tons of sugar with 10.80% recovery, as against 8.89 lakh tons of sugar with 10.50% recovery last year. Tamil Nadu produced 5.70 lakh tons against 9.92 lakh tons of sugar last year same period, which is due to lower recoveries and late starting of sugar crushing season. Till 28th Feb,2014, 12 lakh tons of sugar has been shipped out of country, out of which about 5 lakh tons has gone as Raw sugar.  Over and above this, 1 lakh tons of sugar has also been exported against Advance Authorization Scheme. Till 31st Jan, 2014 about 8.5 lakh tons of Raw sugar has been produced. State level sugarcane price remaining unpaid in Uttar Pradesh as on 28th February, 2014, is about Rs. 10,000 crore.  Another Rs. 4000 crore would be the amount of cane price unpaid in the rest of the country as on 28th February, 2014.