PRESS RELEASE – SUGAR PRODUCTION UPTO 28^th FEB’ 2019

• As on 28^th February, 2019, 466 sugar mills in the country are in operation and have produced 247.68 lac tons of sugar, as compared to 231.77 lac tons produced by 457 mills on the corresponding date last year. Mills have started closing in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

• In Maharashtra, sugar production till 28^th February 2019 was 92.10 lac tons, compared with 84.54 lac tons produced last year same period.  In the current 2018-19 SS, 23 mills have closed their crushing operations in the State while 170 sugar mills are operating. On the corresponding date in last season 18 mills had closed their operations while 169 mills were in operation.
• In U.P., 117 sugar mills are in operation and they have produced 73.20 lac tons of sugar till 28^th February 2019, compared with 73.61 lac tons produced by similar number of mills on the corresponding date of last year. 
• In case of Karnataka, till 28^th February, 2019, mills have produced 41.69 lac tons of sugar. 32 mills have closed their operations in the State while 35 mills are in operation. During the corresponding period last year, they had produced 33.92 lac tons sugar while 38 mills were in operation and 27 mills had closed their operations.
• In case of Tamil Nadu, 32 sugar mills are in operation and have produced 4.70 lac tons of sugar, as compared to 3.58 lac tons produced by 26 sugar mills in 2017-18 SS on the corresponding date.
• Gujarat has produced 8.80 lac tons of sugar till 28^th February 2019 with 14 sugar mills in operation.  Last year, 15 sugar mills were in operation and they had produced 8.23 lac tons of sugar on the same date.
• In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, 25 sugar mills have produced 5.70  lac tons as on 28^th February 2019, as compared to 5.71 lac tons produced by 22 sugar mills on the corresponding date last season.
• In Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, sugar production till 28^th February, 2019 has been in the order of 5.75 lac tons, 2.55 lac tons, 4.60 lac tons, 4.15 lac tons and 4.10 lac tons, respectively.
• For the 1^st time in the history of Indian sugar industry, sugar mills have offered to supply around 51 Crore ltr of Ethanol produced from B heavy molasses and sugarcane juice. This is expected to reduce around 5 Lac tons of sugar production. Till the end of Feb’2019 i.e. in the 1^st three months of current year’s supply period, about 12 Crore ltr of Ethanol have been supplied made from B heavy/sugarcane juice. This have in turn reduced about 1 lac tons of sugar production in the current season so far.
• As on 22^nd February, 2019, all India cane price arrears reported by Government of India in a press release was Rs. 20,159 crore. Such huge cane price arrears have not been recorded in the past in the month of February in any year. However, with the Government deciding to give soft loans of over Rs. 10,000 crore and increasing the minimum ex – mill price to Rs. 31 per kilo, the arrears may get reduced faster. But a very high monthly sugar sale quota fixed for March, 2019, has reduced the sugar prices by over Rs. 100 per quintal, which will adversely impact the millers and negate some of the good steps taken by the Government recently.