New Delhi, March 04: In the current sugar marketing season 2023-24, the sugar production in the country till February 29 has been 255.38 lakh tonnes. In the previous sugar marketing year, 258.48 lakh tonnes of sugar was produced during this period. There has been a decline of 3.1 lakh tonnes on annual basis.
Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), an organization of sugar mills, said in a statement issued on Monday that 255.38 lakh tonnes of sugar has been produced in the sugar marketing season 2023-24 till February 29. In the same period of the previous sugar marketing year 2022-23, 258.48 lakh tonnes of sugar was produced. According to ISMA, 3.1 lakh tonnes less sugar has been produced so far compared to the previous sugar marketing.
According to ISMA, the number of sugar mills operating till February 29 in the current sugar marketing year was 466, while during the last sugar season, till the same date (February 28, 2023), 447 sugar mills were operating. According to industry body ISMA, the rate of closure of sugar mills in Maharashtra and Karnataka in the current season is slower than the previous season. So far this year, a total of 49 factories have been closed in these two states, whereas 74 factories were closed on the same date last year.
Overall, 65 sugar mills across the country have closed their crushing operations till the end of February 29, compared to 86 during the same period last year, according to the Indian Sugar Mills Association. According to ISMA, Maharashtra tops the states in sugar production in the current sugar marketing year. After that Uttar Pradesh is at second place. So far 90.92 lakh tonnes of sugar has been produced in Maharashtra, 78.16 lakh tonnes of sugar has been produced so far in Uttar Pradesh.
According to ISMA, Karnataka comes at third place, where 47 lakh tonnes of sugar has been produced so far. After this, 7.70 lakh tonnes of sugar has been produced in Gujarat, 5.80 lakh tonnes in Tamil Nadu and 25.80 lakh tonnes in other states respectively. Apart from this, according to the industry body, the completion of sugarcane crushing in the states may be longer in the current sugar marketing year as compared to the previous sugar marketing year.
