An auto rickshaw loaded with sugarcane stalks parked at a market in Hyderabad on March 9, 2024. (Photo by NOAH SEELAM / AFP)
| Photo Credit: NOAH SEELAM
Sugar production until March 15 this season (which began on October 1, 2023) is 280.79 lakh tonnes, nearly two lakh tonnes lower than throughout the identical interval final season.
According to the Indian Sugar and Bio Energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA), the preliminary production projection of 330.5 lakh tonnes for the present sugar yr is revised to 340 lakh tonnes. This is especially as a result of cane yields are larger than anticipated in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
While 371 mills are persevering with operations this season, solely 325 have been functioning by this time final season. The Association stated that for the reason that crushing charge is low due to decrease diversion to ethanol, the crushing capability is curtailed and that’s the reason a bigger variety of mills are functioning even now in contrast with final yr.
ISMA has stated that it needs to work carefully with the federal government to discover options to the challenges confronted by the business.
It is in search of measures to use the excess B heavy molasses and sugarcane juice for ethanol production and can also be urging the federal government to take into accounts the financial implications of the excess inventory. The business will face monetary troubles if there’s idle stock. It has additionally sought the assist of the federal government to facilitate clean transition of surplus molasses and ethanol into the ethanol mixing programme to maintain operations.
