Sugar production rises nationwide in 2025 as mills boost crushing
India’s sugar industry showed stronger performance in 2025, with higher cane crushing, improved production, and better recovery rates despite crop setbacks in Uttar Pradesh. Maharashtra led in crushing and output, while UP posted the highest recovery. National production reached 118.3 LMT by December, driven by efficient capacity use and technological improvements.
PILIBHIT: India’s sugar industry recorded improved performance in 2025 across key parameters such as sugarcane crushing, sugar production, and recovery rates compared with 2024. This improvement came despite significant setbacks to the sugarcane crop in Uttar Pradesh, one of the country’s major sugar-producing states, where disease infestation affected crops in western and Terai regions following heavy monsoon floods and prolonged waterlogging.Among the three major sugar-producing states—Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka—Maharashtra emerged as the top performer. By Dec 31, the state crushed 556.57 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of sugarcane through 197 operational mills, compared with 347.67 LMT during the same period in 2024. Sugar production in the state rose sharply to 48.7 LMT, up from 29 LMT a year earlier.Maharashtra also recorded an improved sugar recovery rate of 8.75% in 2025, compared with 8.6% in the previous year. However, Uttar Pradesh surpassed Maharashtra on this parameter, achieving a recovery rate of 9.7 % by Dec 31, an increase of 0.8 percentage points over the previous year.Uttar Pradesh crushed 367.53 LMT of sugarcane through 119 operational mills during the period, marginally higher than 2024’s crushing of 366.29 LMT.
This resulted in sugar production of 35.65 LMT, compared with 32.62 LMT in the corresponding period in 2024.Karnataka reported sugarcane crushing of 279.75 LMT through 75 sugar mills, an improvement over 2024’s figure of 241.76 LMT. Despite a decline in sugar recovery to 7.9% from 8.5% in the previous year, the state increased its sugar production to 22.1 LMT by Dec 31 up from 20.55 LMT a year earlier.Managing director of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories, Prakash Naiknavare, said that at the all-India level, 499 sugar mills across 12 sugar-producing states crushed a total of 1,339.21 LMT of sugarcane by Dec, compared with 1,101.87 LMT in the previous year. Sugar production during the period stood at 118.30 LMT, up from 95.6 LMT in 2024, while the overall recovery rate improved from 8.69% to 8.83%. He attributed the improved performance to better utilisation of installed milling capacity, supported by technological innovations and skill development initiatives.
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Source : The Times Of India
