Chodavaram mill expects drop in cane crushing

Chodavaram Cooperative Sugar Factory expects a decline in sugarcane crushing this season as against the 350,000 tonnes crushed during the last season.

The mill started crushing from December 2 and on the first day it crushed 600 tonnes of sugarcane. The crushing season will continue for 90-100 days.

“During the last crushing season, we crushed 350,000 tonnes of sugarcane with a 9.9 per cent recovery, but this year this is likely to be only 300,000 tonnes with a recovery rate of 9.5-9.8 percent due to unfavourable weather conditions,” GV Ramaiah, managing director, Chodavaram sugar factory, told Business Standard.

Farmers, in the factory area, have cultivated sugarcane on 28,550 acres this season. Under normal circumstances, the yield in the said area is around 500,000 tonnes. However, due to bad weather conditions, it would be only 300,000-350,000 tonnes of sugarcane this season, Ramaiah said.