206 sugar mills sick, 153 went under this season: govt

The government today said as many as 206 sugar mills across the country are sick, with two major producing states of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh accounting for over half of them.

Of these mills, 61 are private while 145 belong to the co-operative sector, Minister of State for Agriculture K V Thomas said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

While 63 mills in Maharashtra have been declared sick, 44 in Uttar Pradesh share the same fate, Thomas said. Tamil Nadu accounts for the closure of around 23 mills while Karnataka follows closely with 22.

"The main reasons for the closure/sickness of these mills are non-availability of adequate raw material, poor recovery from sugarcane, uneconomic size, lack of modernisation, high cost of working capital, declaration of high state advisory price of cane by some states (among others)," Thomas said.

Moreover, 153 sugar mills across states stopped functioning till March 31 of this season, ending September, the minister pointed out, adding that some of these units may start operation in the next season.

As many as 49 mills in Maharashtra and 27 in Uttar Pradesh stopped working during this period.