STATUS ON SUGAR PRODUCTION TILL 15TH JAN, 2013
· Till 15th Jan, 2013, the country has produced 108.00 lakh tonne of sugar which is about 3% more than last year during same time when 105 lakh tons were produced. However, country is operating with 12 lesser number of sugar mills in comparison to last year. Total 507 sugar mills have crushed more than 113 mln tonne of sugarcane with recovery % looking similar to last year.
· Maharashtra has produced 37.70 lakh tonne of sugar after crushing 357 lakh tonne of sugarcane at a recovery of 10.57%. Last year, during same period Maharashtra had produced about 1 lakh tonne less sugar, though at a slightly higher recovery %. Pune zone has crushed about 141 lakh tonne of sugarcane to produce 14.90 lakh tonne of sugar, which is highest among all the seven zones in the State till date, but it reported lesser recovery of 10.57% than last year. Moreover, recovery % across seven zones in Maharashtra is lower by 0.1-0.25 point basis as compared to last year, which is due to early arrival & crushing of varieties like CoM0265 with lesser vegetative growth.
· Uttar Pradesh has crushed 313 lakh tonnes of sugarcane, with 121 operational sugar mills. It has produced 27.54 lakh tonne of sugar with 8.81% recovery against 29.27 lakh tonne with 8.54% recovery last year. Although, recovery % is better by 0.35- 0.40 point basis in Western & Central zones of the State, it is the same in the eastern zone. Agro-climatic conditions like relative temperature difference between day and night temperature also helped the recovery % in these zones. However, due to Rs. 3.5- 4 / kg less realization from sugar sales, sugar mills in UP are facing upheaval task in clearing off the sugarcane dues, which is hovering around Rs. 2987 crore, as sugarcane arrears for the current season till date.
· Karnataka has produced 20 lakh tonne of sugar which is about 16% higher than last year. There are 57 operational sugar mills in the State which have crushed about 200 lakh tonnes of sugarcane.
· Andhra Pradesh has crushed about 48.1 lakh tonne of sugarcane to produce about 4.6 lakh tonne of sugar with 9.25% recovery. AP has 35 sugar mills operational this season which have produced 5% more sugar, but with little lesser recovery than last year. Tamil Nadu has produced 4.90 lakh tonnes of sugar with 41 sugar mills under operation.
· ISMA is finalizing their report based on January satellite image with harvestable sugarcane available in the country for rest of the crushing season. Along with this ISMA will also review the production estimates given under their Ist advance estimates as 240 lakh tonne and come with 2nd advance estimates based on above reports and field visits soon.