Sugar production dips to 4 mn tonne in UP

Sugar production in Uttar Pradesh declined to a new low at 4 million tonne (mt) this season. In 2006-07 and 2007-08, the production stood at 8.5 mt and 7.4 mt respectively.

Of the total 132 sugar mills that participated in crushing this season, 120 have already closed and 12 other private units in Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar districts of western UP will also close this week, a senior cane department official told Business Standard.

According to official figures, the sugar mills have crushed over 45 million tonne of cane producing roughly 4 million tonne of sugar. The sugar recovery percentage was also low at 8.91 per cent.

The annual consumption of sugar in the state alone stands at about 5 million tonne.

“The total sugar production by the end of this months would only be a little more than 4 million tonne,” he added.

This year, the state mills could not function to their capacity due to low availability of cane for crushing. The decline in production was due to the downfall in acreage estimated at 2.1 million hectares in 2008-09 as farmers turned to other lucrative foodgrain and oilseed crops.

Currently, the sugar retail price is hovering around Rs 25 in Lucknow.