UP sugar output at 6.5 mn tonnes

Uttar Pradesh has revised its sugar production estimate to 6.5 million tonnes.

This would be an output growth of over 25 per cent vis-à-vis last year’s mark of 5.18 million tonnes.

Last month, the state sugar production was estimated at under 6 million tonnes, down from 6.2 million tonnes at the start of the current crushing season.

The upward revision comes on the back of robust cane supply to mills and better cane recovery rate of 9.01 per cent compared to 8.93 per cent last year.

“Till date, the mills in UP have already produced nearly 5.2 million tonnes of sugar compared to 4.6 million tonnes during the same period last year,” an industry spokesperson told Business Standard.

He maintained sugar output would easily touch 6.5 million tonnes this year going by the trend so far and the crushing operations by mills, especially in western and central regions.

“About five small capacity mills in eastern UP have closed down, but even these units had an extended duration of crushing this year compared to last season. The units in other parts of the country are most likely to crush at least till the mid of April,” he informed.

Last year, the crushing had ended around March 15 due to lower cane availability.

Meanwhile, the amount of sugarcane diversion to jaggery and khandsari units, which pay in cash against the 14-day interest free payment by mills, has not dented the prospects of regular cane supply to mills.

The mills are paying the State Advised Price (SAP) of Rs 205-210/quintal to farmers.

There are about four million cane farmers in Uttar Pradesh, which is the highest sugarcane-yielding state in India and second largest sugar producer after Maharashtra. The annual sugar consumption in the state is five million tonnes.

During 2010-11, Uttar Pradesh cane acreage and production have been estimated at two million hectares and 120 million tonnes, respectively.