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Informist, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025

 

MUMBAI – Mills in India produced 7.8 million tonnes of sugar as of Monday in the sugar season started October, up over 28% from 6.1 million tonnes produced in the same period a year ago, according to data from the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories. Sugar output rose due to higher cane yields and an improvement in sugar recovery rate to 8.6% from 8.5% last year.

 

As of Monday, 479 mills were operational across the country, against 473 units last year. The sugar season 2025–26 (Oct-Sept) has commenced on a strong footing due to early crushing operations and improved yield, the federation said.

 

For the entire 2025-26 sugar season ending September, the federation has estimated sugar production to be more than 20% on year at 31.5 million tonnes, with 11.0 million tonnes coming from Maharashtra, 10.5 million tonnes from Uttar Pradesh and 5.5 million tonnes from Karnataka. Last year, India produced around 26.2 million tonnes of sugar. 

 

As per the state-wise sugar production details provided by the federation, sugar production in Uttar Pradesh as of Monday was 2.5 million tonnes, up from nearly 2.3 million tonnes at the same time last year, as sugarcane crushing increased to 26.4 million tonnes from 25.8 million tonnes, a year ago. The state has 120 operational mills, the same as last year, and the average sugar recovery rose to 9.5% from 8.9% last year. 

 

Sugar production in Maharashtra has surged 86% to 3.1 million tonnes as of Monday from 1.7 million tonnes last year. Sugar production rose in the state as sugarcane crushing jumped 83% to 37.9 million tonnes and due to a rise in sugar recovery rate to 8.25% from 8.10%. The state had 190 mills running as of Monday compared to 183 mills last year. 

 

In Karnataka, sugar production stood at 1.6 million tonnes, up from 1.4 million tonnes last year. As of Monday, 76 mills were running in the state, same as last year. The average sugar recovery rose marginally to 8.35% from 8.30% last year. 

 

Other sugar-producing states, contributing around 13–15% of the national output, have collectively produced 605,000 tonnes of sugar through 93 mills, compared to 745,000 tonnes during the corresponding period last season, the sugar body said.

 

Despite the encouraging production trend, the financial outlook for sugar mills remains under severe stress. All-India average ex-mill sugar prices have declined nearly INR 2,300 per tonne since the beginning of the season and are currently hovering around INR 37,700 per tonne, adversely affecting mill liquidity and their ability to ensure timely payment of cane dues.

 

In order to bring sectoral stability, the sugar federation has urged the government to revise the minimum selling price for sugar to INR 41 per kg. It has also urged the Centre for the enhancement of ethanol procurement prices, and an additional diversion of 500,000 tonnes of sugar towards ethanol. "This additional ethanol production alone could generate nearly 2,000 crore (INR 20 billion), directly strengthen mill cash flows and support timely payments to sugarcane farmers," the federation said.

 

"At the macro level, over 1.30 lakh crore (INR 1.3 trillion) is payable to farmers as cane dues during the current season, while surplus sugar stocks are likely to result in a working-capital blockage of nearly 28,000 crore (INR 280 billion)," the federation said. Rising fair and remunerative prices and state-advised prices, coupled with sharp increases in harvesting and transportation costs, have significantly escalated the cost of sugar production, the trade body said.  End

 

Reported by Taniva Singha Roy

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

 

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