Sugarcane crushing gathers steam in UP

A total of 109 sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh are participating in cane crushing for the 2008-09 season, whereas the remaining 24-odd units are likely to join them within a week.

Of the 109 mills, 12 are state sugar corporation mills, while 22 and 75 units belong to cooperative and private sectors, respectively.

According to the latest figures, the mills have already crushed over 21 million quintals of cane producing about 1.8 million quintals of sugar. UP is the second largest producer of the country.

“The sugar recovery this year stands at 8.57 per cent at present and the pace of crushing is much better compared to last year,” an official source told Business Standard.

Earlier, the Allahabad High Court had reserved its judgement on the contentious issue of sugarcane price in the state. The verdict is likely to be passed later this week.

On November 4, the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) had challenged the record hike in the state advised price (SAP) by terming it as arbitrary and finding fault in the method to arrive at the cane rate.

Announced on October 18, 2008, SAP this year had witnessed a hike of Rs 15 per quintal over last year. Interestingly, the statutory minimum price (SMP) announced by the Centre has been retained at Rs 81 per quintal as last year.

For the 2008-09 crushing season, the state government has announced an SAP of Rs 137.50 per quintal of cane for rejected variety, Rs 140 for general variety (up from Rs 125 from last year) and Rs 145 for early variety.

Meanwhile, the sugar mills have entered into separate agreements with farmers and cane societies promising to honour the pending court order over cane payment. This only had paved way for crushing because farmers also wanted their fields ready for the rabi sowing season.

Sugarcane farmers are statutorily required to supply their produce to a sugar factory to which they are tied under the order of UP cane commissioner — commonly known as reservation order.

Meanwhile, the cane production this year is down by almost 20 per cent from last year, since several farmers preferred other cash crops due to dispute, delayed payment and multiple litigations over cane price over the last couple of years.