UP sugar output increased

Lucknow: Contrary to earlier apprehensions that gur and khandsari units in Uttar Pradesh will divert a large share of the sugarcane crop in an already low supply year, thereby leading to a dip in sugar production, sugar mills have been able to wrest an all-time high drawal percentage of 48%, thereby leading to a more than expected sugar production of 3.52 million tonne in the state till now.

With a fortnight of crushing still left, the state, which is one of the largest producer of sugarcane in the country, expects to not only breach last year’s production of 4.06 million tonne but could produce around 4.3 million tonne of sugar this year.

The prime reason for this turnaround is that sugar mills, which were earlier reluctant to even pay farmers the state advised price (SAP) of Rs 160 a quintal for the cane are now paying Rs 100 extra as cane development incentive.

Due to this, farmers, who had hitherto diverted their crop to kolhus and khandsari units as they were paying in the margin of Rs 225-250 per quintal, are now selling it to the millers.

“While western UP millers are officially paying farmers Rs 290 a quintal, those in Eastern UP are paying Rs 280. With the recovery percentage of sugar already going up to 8.86% and the price of the commodity, too, spinning out of control, millers do not mind paying a higher price to the farmers,” said an industry source, adding that while most mills will finish the season by end of February, around 20-odd sugar mills in Saharanpur, Meerut, Lakhimpur and Kushinagar districts are expected to crush cane till the middle of March.

So much so that even Baghpat and Ramala, the two state co-operative sugar mills in these districts, are in step with the private mills in paying competitive prices to procure cane from the farmers. “Not only the private mills, even these two state co-operative mills are expected to keep crushing till the middle of March as they are also paying Rs 290 a quintal,” he stated.

However, the UPSMA’s contention that mills in UP will reduce cane price by Rs 20 per quintal in the next few days, as the price of sugar has come down in the wholesale market, is not likely to go down well with the farmers.

source: financialexpress