Sugar production up 2.7 per cent so far in 2012-13 marketing year

NEW DELHI: Sugar production has increased by 2.7 per cent to 165.9 lakh tonnes till February 15 of this marketing year that started in October last year, according to industry data released today.

"Country has produced 165.9 lakh tonnes of sugar up to 15 February 2013. This is about 2.70 per cent more than last year same period," Indian Sugar Mills Association ( ISMA) said in a statement.

ISMA attributed the increase in sugar output to higher sugarcane crushing and better recovery. The production is up even though there are 24 less number of mills operating now as compared to last year.

"Till date, almost 1,680 lakh tonnes of sugarcane have been crushed with average recovery of 9.8 per cent from October 2012. Country has crushed about 1.70 per cent more sugarcane than last year along with better recoveries," ISMA said.

ISMA has projected 243 lakh tonnes of sugar production for the 2012-13 marketing year (October-September), which is 20 lakh tonnes less than last year.

According to data, Maharashtra has produced 57.8 lakh tonnes of sugar till February 15 of this marketing year, which is about 3 per cent more than last year. Uttar Pradesh has produced 43.6 lakh tonnes of sugar, which is about 4 per cent less than the year-ago period.

Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are the two leading sugar producing states in the country.

Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have produced 7.8 and 7.3 lakh tonnes of sugar, which is about 3 per cent and 1 per cent more than last year in these respective states. Karnataka has produced about 28.3 lakh tonnes of sugar.

"Maharashtra and Karnataka have already started showing signs of lower sugarcane availability for the current season, 2012-13," ISMA said.