One per cent deficit Sugar production in the country so far
Lucknow, Mar 15 : Sugar production in the country has shown one per deficit in comparison to last year till March 15.
A total of 210.5 lakh tons of sugar has been produced in the current season upto March 15 which is about 1 per cent less than last year when 212.5 lakh tons was produced.
Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) statement here today said number of mills still operating as on March 15 has come down from 520 to 390 now as 130 mills have already closed. On the same day last year, only 74 sugar mills closed their operations in the country. Most of the closure has happened in Maharashtra followed by Karnataka where, as compared to last year, when 160 and 53 mills were running, 108 and 27 mills are operating now, respectively.
The all India average recovery of 10.04 per cent is lower by 0.1 point per cent that of last year. Around 2100 lakh tons of sugarcane has been crushed till March 15, 2013 which is again almost similar to last year.
Uttar Pradesh has produced 59 lakh tons till March 15, against 60.4 lakh tons last year. 119 mills are still under operation as compared to 107 last year. The recovery upto March 15, is 9.05 per cent as compared to 8.95 per cent last year.
As was expected, the production from Maharashtra has slowed down during the last 15-20 days and for the first time in the season, the actual production is lower than last year when upto March 15, 72.25 lakh tons have been produced as compared to 72.7 lakh tons last year. The recovery is also lower this year at 11.23 per cent as compared to 11.44 per cent last year.
Karnataka has produced 31.8 lakh tons as compared to 32.6 lakh tons last year. The production in Tamil Nadu is 11.5 lakh tons as compared to 11.1 lakh tons last year, whereas in Andhra Pradesh, it is 9.2 lakh tons as compared to 9.7 lakh tons last year and in Gujarat it is 9.4 lakh tons as compared to 8.8 lakh tons last year.
Considering the actual production so far and trends of production from some of the important States, ISMA has also reviewed the sugar production estimates for the current sugar season and has revised its 2012-13 season estimates to 246 lakh tons, which is about 3 lakh tonne higher than their previous estimates given in January, 2013.