Uttar Pradesh overtakes Maharashtra in sugar production
02-Apr-2025 08:24 PM
New Delhi. Data from the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories shows that in the first half of the current marketing season (October-September) of 2024-25 i.e. from October 2024 to March 2025, only 80.10 lakh tonnes of sugar was produced in Maharashtra and now sugarcane is being crushed in only 6 mills there.
Although sugar production is also seen to be weak in Uttar Pradesh, but till March 31, the state recorded a production of 87.70 lakh tonnes, which is 7.60 lakh tonnes more than Maharashtra.
This time 904.12 lakh tonnes of sugarcane was crushed in Uttar Pradesh and the average recovery rate of sugar was recorded at 9.7 percent.
In comparison, during the same period of the last season, 921.33 lakh tonnes of sugarcane was crushed in Uttar Pradesh and 97.20 lakh tonnes of sugar was produced with an average recovery rate of 10.55 percent.
As far as Maharashtra is concerned, 194 out of a total of 200 sugar mills have been closed. This time 843.16 lakh tonnes of sugarcane was crushed in the state and 80.10 lakh tonnes of sugar was produced with an average recovery rate of 9.50 percent.
According to the Federation, the total crushing of sugarcane at the national level could reach only 2653.26 lakh tonnes this time, whereas it had reached 2981.04 lakh tonnes in the last season.
Similarly, the average recovery rate of sugar from sugarcane also decreased from 10.15 percent to 9.37 percent.
As a result, the total production of sugar also declined by 18 percent from 302.50 lakh tonnes in the first half of the 2023-24 season to 248.50 lakh tonnes in the same period of the 2024-25 season. On 31 March 2025, sugarcane crushing was going on in 113 sugar mills across the country, whereas 204 sugar mills were active during the same period last year.
The Federation has projected the gross sugar production to fall by 19 per cent or 60 lakh tonnes from 319 lakh tonnes in the 2023-24 season to 259 lakh tonnes in the 2024-25 season, while ISMA has estimated a production of 5 lakh tonnes more than this, i.e. 264 lakh tonnes.