Sugar production in the current season (October 2022-September 2023) is up 3.5 per cent at 120.7 lakh tonnes against 116.4 lakh tonnes during the same period a year ago, data from the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said. The number of operating factories are also higher at 509 against 500 operated last year.
Out of the total operational sugar factories in India, this season, 39 per cent of them are in Maharashtra. These factories produced about 47 lakh tonnes of sugar, which is 39 per cent of the total output till December end.
However, Maharashtra has left behind India’s biggest state Uttar Pradesh (UP) on operational sugar mills and sugar produced. The UP has 117 operational mills producing 30.9 lakh tonnes of sugar, while 196 mills are operational in Maharashtra producing 46.8 lakh tonnes. Interestingly, with only 73 operational mills, Karnataka has produced 26.7 lakh tonnes of sugar. ISMA stated that all these production figures are after the diversion of sugar into ethanol.
Gujarat has 16 operational mills that have produced 3.8 lakh tonnes sugar while Tamil Nadu 24 operational mills producing 2.6 lakh tonnes.
In September, the Maharashtra government announced about 203 sugar mills in the State will be operational this season and producing 13.8 million tonnes (mt) by the end of the season. Last season, mills in the State produced 13.74 mt of sugar to surpass Uttar Pradesh as the largest sugar-producing State. Maharashtra has a 35 per cent share of India’s ethanol production.