Cane crushing, sugar production to increase in Maharashtra this year.

Officials from the state’s Sugar Commissionerate said that sugar mills in the state had revised their estimate of sugarcane crushing in the current season to 800 lakh tonnes by April this year from the earlier estimate of 700 lakh tonnes. This, they said, was due to increase in sugarcane production because of the availability of sufficient water. Total sugarcane production in Maharashtra would be around 900 lakh tonnes. Of these, some would be diverted for fodder and other usage and 800 lakh tonnes would be crushed for sugar. The average sugar recovery rate per tonne is 11.50 per cent. Officials of the Maharashtra State Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories said that the sugarcane crushing season generally began in November and went on till March, adding that sugarcane was in excess this year and crushing might extend till April.