«Sugar production till 15th March 2024 in the current 2023-24 season reached 28,079 million tonnes, against 28,260 million tonnes produced last year on the corresponding date», — Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said in a statement.
Number of factories operating as on March 15 this year stood at 371 as against 325 mills on the same day last year.
In Uttar Pradesh, sugar production stood at 8,840 million tonnes as against 7,963 million tonnes during the period under review.
Sugar output in Maharashtra fell marginally to 10,050 million tonnes from 10,192 million tonnes, while production in Karnataka declined to 4,755 million tonnes from 5,350 million tonnes.
Recently, ISMA has pegged sugar production at around 32,3 million tonnes for the 2023-24 marketing year after the diversion of 1,7 million tonnes towards ethanol manufacturing.
The net sugar production stood at 32,82 million tonnes during the 2022-23 marketing year with a diversion of 3,8 million tonnes of sweetener for ethanol-making from sugarcane juice and B-heavy molasses.
In January, the association had projected the gross sugar production, without any diversion for ethanol, at 33,05 million tonnes in the 2023-24 marketing year.
Last month, the central government decided to hike Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) — the minimum price that mills have to pay to sugarcane growers — by Rs 25 to Rs 340 per quintal for the 2024-25 season starting October 2024.
«This decision of the central government is going to benefit more than 50 million sugarcane farmers (including family members) and 100,000 of other persons involved in the sugar sector», — an official statement had said.
Sugarcane is grown mainly in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka.
