Sugar production estimate in Maharashtra drops significantly by 16 percent in current season

MUMBAI: Low sugarcane availability in Maharashtra has forced mills to shut down crushing operations early, resulting in sugar production in Maharashtra expected to be 16 per cent lower than earlier estimates, government sources said.

Maharashtra is a major sugar producing state in the country. The decline in sugar production has reduced the possibility of further export of sugar from the country. India is a major exporter of sugar in the world market.

Due to decrease in exports from India, sugar prices are being supported in the world market and other sugar exporting countries Brazil and Thailand are getting an opportunity to increase exports.

35 percent of the sugar produced in the country is produced in Maharashtra. The state's sugar production is expected to be around 1.07 crore tonnes in the current sugar season, which began from October 2022, as against the earlier estimate of 1.28 crore tonnes.

Mills are closing fast. Most of the mills will be closed by the end of the current month, state government sources said.

Mills remained operational till mid-June in Maharashtra as a result of bumper production of sugarcane last season.

As of March 26 of the current year, the sugar production of the state was 1.03 crore tonnes. Of the 210 sugar mills that had started crushing operations, 155 mills had closed by the end of last week.

In the current year, the government has allowed the export of 61 lakh tonnes of sugar in the first phase.