Most sugar mills shut early amid cane shortage; Uttar Pradesh leads national production
PILIBHIT: Despite early closures of 496 out of 534 sugar mills nationwide due to cane shortages and red rot in UP, 38 mills remain operational. UP led sugar output with 91.10 lakh tonnes, followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka. Improved cane yield and sucrose content in UP may extend crushing to May. Ethanol diversion is expected to rise to 35 lakh tonnes.
PILIBHIT : Highlighting a season marked by significant challenges, out of 534 sugar mills across the country, 496 shut operations by April 15. Despite the nationwide setback, 38 mills—22 in (highest in number), 14 in Tamil Nadu, and one each in Maharashtra and Gujarat—remain operational, striving to bridge the production gap.
The early closure was primarily attributed to poor sugarcane availability in the first half of the crushing season, triggered by a combination of red rot disease infestation in UP’s ratoon crop and heavy diversion of cane to jaggery and khandsari units. The lack of any increase in the State Advised Price (SAP) further encouraged farmers to sell to these alternative units, which offered better returns.
Operations were delayed by over a month in Maharashtra due to assembly elections, compressing the productive window and preventing mills from matching last year’s performance. Adverse weather conditions compounded the problem by reducing sucrose content in cane, lowering sugar recovery rates.
As of March 15, national sugar output stood at 254.97 lakh tonnes, down by 56.28 lakh tonnes compared to 311.25 lakh tonnes at the same time last year.
The reports show that UP ranked first in sugar production till April 15 by producing 91.10 lakh tonnes of sugar with 122 sugar mills, while Maharashtra followed with the production of 80.76 lakh tonnes of sugar through a network of 200 sugar mills. Karnataka could produce merely 40.40 lakh tonnes of sugar with its 80 mills.
According to the Director General (DG) of the Indian Sugar & Bio-energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA), Deepak Ballani, the sugarcane availability in the second half of the current crushing season remarkably improved in the state of UP due to a better yield of the sugarcane plant.
“This feature is expected to keep rolling the wheels of the sugar mills till the first week of May,” Ballani said, adding that “the improved content of sucrose in plant sugarcane has also resulted in a better sugar recovery rate and the optimistic output of sugar.”
Remarkably, a few sugar mills in South Karnataka were expected to restart the sugarcane crushing operation during the special season from June to September 2025, Ballani said. Historically, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu collectively contribute around 4–5 lakh tonnes of sugar in the special season.
As the sugar mills across the country have adequate buffer stocks of the previous year’s sugar production to saturate the sugar demand in the market, around 35 lakh tonnes of sugar is expected to be diverted this year for ethanol production compared with the previous year’s diversion of 21.50 lakh tonnes.
Expressing hopes for a better future for the industry in view of certain reformative moves, Ballani said that “the ongoing varietal replacement initiatives are expected to deliver encouraging outcomes in UP and other northern regions. These advancements are expected to enhance both cane yield and sugar recovery rates, thereby strengthening overall production performance in the upcoming season.”
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Source : The Times Of India
