Sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest sugarcane producer, are bitter over the supply of rejected sugarcane varieties during crushing season.
The recovery rate, or the sugar produced per unit of cane crushed, of the rejected varieties is much lower compared to normal varieties. This has an adverse effect on the mills’ profitability.
Sugarcane varieties are declared unsuitable or rejected through a notification from the state government. The millers rue such varieties being continued to be grown by the state’s farmers, as their cost of production was lower compared to normal varieties.
At the same time, there has been only a small difference between the purchase price of the two varieties, which the mills claim has sustained the growing of unsuitable cane varieties.
During 2011-12, the price for the rejected varieties was Rs 235 per quintal, compared to Rs 240/quintal for the normal varieties. According to the millers, while the price difference was only 2 per cent, the difference in recovery of the two varieties was 15-20 per cent.
The UP Sugar Mills Association has formally asked the state to fix the price of rejected varieties at 20 per cent lower than normal varieties. There are about 125 mills in UP, of which about 100 are in the private sector. The association has urged that the price of rejected varieties be administered under the relevant clause of the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966, which provides that the price of burnt, stale,dried or rejected varieties be dealt with on the basis of the estimated shortfall in recovery.
Over the years, sugar recovery in UP has decreased substantially. The average recovery during for years between 2008-09 and 2010-11 had been 9.07 per cent against 9.63 during the period from 2001-02 to 2007-08. The millers have attributed this decrease mainly to the supply of the rejected varieties of cane, which it estimates at 20 per cent of the total cane crushed in UP.
Despite efforts by mills in their reserved cane areas, rejected varieties continue to be grown. While the problem had almost waned in western UP, the state’s central and eastern regions are still afflicted with it.
