Sugarcane shortage to shut most sugar mills in UP, Maharashtra by March
The 2024-25 sugarcane season in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Karnataka faces significant challenges, including crop diseases and weather-related issues, leading to lower yields and reduced production. In Uttar Pradesh, sugarcane prices may rise due to supply shortages and competition among mills, though the state government has yet to finalize the new State Advisory Price (SAP).
In the current crushing season (2024-25), due to a shortage of sugarcane in the country’s two largest sugar-producing states, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, most sugar mills will close by March. Many sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh are already facing a shortage of sugarcane supply. Additionally, some mills in the state bordering Uttarakhand have started indirectly purchasing sugarcane at ₹400 per quintal.
In the jaggery and sugarcane industry, the price of sugarcane is also likely to rise to ₹400 per quintal. This increase is primarily due to a 15-20% decline in productivity caused by top shoot borer and red rot disease affecting sugarcane in the state. This situation could trigger a price war for sugarcane among sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh in the coming days. However, the state government has not yet fixed the State Advisory Price (SAP) of sugarcane for the current crushing season. At present, sugar mills in the state are paying farmers the previous season’s SAP of ₹370 per quintal.
Meanwhile, in Maharashtra and Karnataka, the growth of the sugarcane crop has stalled, and the flowering stage has begun, adversely affecting both productivity and sugar recovery.
K.P. Singh, who runs a jaggery unit called Hans Heritage Jaggery and Farm Produce in Shamli district, Uttar Pradesh, told Rural Voice that sugarcane yield is down by 15-20% across western Uttar Pradesh this year. Additionally, recovery has declined by about 1%. Singh notes that the situation is the same from Bareilly to Shamli. A former technical head at Balrampur Chini Group, Singh now operates an automated, advanced-technology-based jaggery plant near Oon in Shamli district. He anticipates that they may have to pay up to ₹400 per quintal for sugarcane. Last year, his jaggery unit had a recovery rate of over 15%, but this year, it has dropped to 14%. He is currently selling Jaggery at ₹33 per kg.
Similarly, progressive farmer and Zila Panchayat member Umesh Panwar from Bhainswal village in Shamli district reports a 20% decline in sugarcane productivity due to disease. He adds that except for the Sir Shadilall Upper Doab Sugar Mill Shamli most mills in the district will close by March due to the shortage of sugarcane. Shamli mill, which started operations later, may continue until mid-April.
In Maharashtra, former MP and leader of the farmers’ organization Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, Raju Shetty, told Rural Voice that the sugarcane crop in the state is weak, and most sugar mills will halt crushing by mid-March.
An official from Maharashtra’s sugar industry stated that the sugarcane crop in Maharashtra and Karnataka has entered a premature flowering stage, which not only halts growth but also reduces sucrose content and overall weight of the crop. A cooperative sugar mill official in Maharashtra added that early flowering had already begun in many areas by December. Additionally, sugar mills crushing season in Maharashtra got delayed due to the state assembly elections. Despite the delay, some mills are expected to close as early as February due low availaility of the sugarcane crop.
The National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Limited has revised its sugar production estimate for the current season (2024-25) to 270 lakh tonnes, down from last year’s 319 lakh tonnes. At the end of the previous season, the country had a closing stock of 80 lakh tonnes of sugar, while estimated sugar consumption for the current year stands at 295 lakh tonnes. The government has recently approved the export of 10 lakh tonnes of sugar. As per the current production and consumption numbers closing stock of the current season will be 45 lakh tonnes.
According to the Federation, sugar production in Maharashtra is expected to drop from 110.2 lakh tonnes last year to 86 lakh tonnes this season. In Uttar Pradesh, production is projected to decline from 103.65 lakh tonnes to 93 lakh tonnes, while Karnataka’s output is estimated to fall from 53 lakh tonnes to 41 lakh tonnes. A month ago, the Federation had projected sugar production at 280 lakh tonnes, estimating 98 lakh tonnes in Uttar Pradesh and 87 lakh tonnes in Maharashtra.
The premature flowering of sugarcane in Maharashtra is attributed to prolonged drought conditions in 2023-24, followed by excessive rainfall in October. This shift in weather patterns has negatively impacted the crop. Meanwhile, in Uttar Pradesh, red rot disease and top shoot borer infestation have severely affected the state’s most popular sugarcane variety, CO-0238. This variety, which has performed well for both farmers and the sugar industry for years, has now become more disease-prone. The alternative varieties CO-0118, CO-14201, CO-15023, and COS-13235 have yet to gain widespread acceptance among farmers due to trade-offs between recovery and productivity. The state’s Sugarcane Research Institute and ICAR institutes have not yet introduced a superior alternative to CO-0238, raising concerns about a potential crisis similar to that seen in cotton farming, where India, once the world’s top producer, has now become an importer.
Another pressing issue is that the Uttar Pradesh government has yet to finalize the SAP for the current crushing season (2024-25), even though most of the season has passed. Sugar mills, which began crushing in November 2024, will start closing by March. Last season (2023-24), the SAP for early-maturing sugarcane varieties was set at ₹370 per quintal, but since no new SAP has been announced, mills continue paying last season’s rates. In contrast, Punjab has set the highest SAP in the country at ₹401 per quintal, while Haryana’s SAP stands at ₹400 per quintal for the current season.
Despite the absence of a new SAP, sugarcane farmers in Uttar Pradesh may still receive higher prices due to increasing competition among sugar mills and demand from the jaggery and sugar industry. As the season progresses, market forces may drive up prices beyond the current SAP.
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Source : Rural Voice
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