Maharashtra mills together might produce a record 136 lakh tonnes of sugar this season as the crushing will continue till May end. About 40 lakh tonnes of sugarcane is still standing in the fields and 130 harvesters are in operation to cut the excess crop.
The State government has announced a grant to sugar mills to crush the excess cane. As of now, majority of the uncrushed sugarcane is in Marathwada region. SMills are likely to crush 1,307 lakh tonnes of sugarcane by the end of this season.
Industry players say that the State government’s assistance to mills has played a major role to convince mill directors to crush all the available sugarcane in the locality.
According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), sugar production in Maharashtra till April 15, 2022 was 126.48 lakh tonnes compared with 103.95 lakh tonnes produced in the same period previous season.
In the current 2021-22 sugar season, reportedly 45 mills have closed their crushing operations in the State and 153 sugar mills are operating . On the corresponding date in last season, only 54 mills were in operation in the State, which went on to add another about 2.55 lakh tonnes of sugar production last year.