Punjab is likely to witness a drop of 32 per cent in sugar production in 2008-09 because of sharp fall in area under sugarcane cultivation this year.
"Our sugar production this year is expected to remain at 36 lakh quintals compared with 53 lakh quintals last year," Punjab Cane Commissioner M S Sandhu said today.
This year, the sugarcane acreage in Punjab stood at 93,500 hectares compared with 1.40 lakh hectares last year as farmers shifted focus to wheat and paddy crops in order to fetch better returns. In 2007-08, the acreage increased to 1.40 lakh hectares from 1.18 lakh hectares the previous year.
"With fall in area under sugarcane cultivation, the total sugarcane output in the state fell to 514 lakh quintals this year against 800 lakh quintals in 2007-08," said an official.
Since the availability of sugarcane in the state has come down sharply, the state is expecting to crush less cane this year compared to last year.
"This year, the cane crushing will be 386 lakh quintals compared with 576 lakh quintals last year," he said.
With cane crushing exercise put in operational mode by state few days back, the sugar mills are expecting substantial drop in crushing days.
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"Last year, the sugar mills crushed cane for 350 days but this year we feel that the cane crushing will fall to 120 days due to less availability of cane," Rana Sugar Mills Managing Director Rana Inder Partap Singh said.
However, prices of sugar are expected to remain firm this year due to low sugarcane output in the state, sugar experts said.
To encourage farmers to bring more area under cultivation, Punjab government has raised State Advised Price for sugarcane to Rs 165, Rs 160 and Rs 155 per quintal for advanced, medium and late varieties respectively for 2008-09.