UP sugarcane crushing gains pace

110 mills operational

The much-delayed sugarcane crushing is slowly picking up in Uttar Pradesh with about 110 mills of the 123 odd total units operational so far.

The functional mills include all the cooperative units and a UP State Sugar Corporation Limited (UPSSCL) mill situated in Meerut. The remaining mills are likely to join the league soon.

UP accounts for a third of India’s sugar output and the state is the largest sugarcane producer.

The mills have crushed nearly 155 lakh quintals of cane producing about 12 lakh tonnes of sugar. As expected, the recovery percentage has also improved from 7.60 per cent to 7.75 per cent over the last week as winter advances.

Meanwhile, the private mills this month settled nearly Rs 39 crore in sugarcane arrears for the 2012-13 crushing season. However, the net arrears still stand at about Rs 2,300 crore.

According to UP sugarcane department, 20 private sugar mills now have settled 100 per cent of their arrears. The 23 odd cooperative units had settled their arrears much earlier.

Earlier, the impasse over cane price between private mills and the UP government had delayed the crushing season imperiling the fortunes of 4 million cane farmers. The delay not only blocked cash flow, but also prevented farmers from sowing wheat, which required vacant field.

However, the matter was resolved after millers agreed to pay the state-advised price of Rs 280/quintal over sops by the state government. Now, the millers have been allowed to pay in installments of Rs 260 and Rs 20 per quintal and the government has conceded to incur cane societies’ commission on behalf of mills.

The Akhilesh Yadav government had made a provision of Rs 126 crore for the payment of commission in the recent state supplementary budget.
 
UP sugar sector is almost Rs 35,000 crore and the industry is the largest organised industry in the state.