Sugar output down in state

The Maharashtra co-operative sugar industry's production has dropped by five lakh tonne due to the recent floods in the state.

The continuous rain and water logging in the fields has damaged 25 lakh tonne sugarcane, said Prakash Naiknavre, managing director, Maharashtra Rajya Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Sangh. The production in the current sugar year (October 2004- September 2005) is expected to be around 45 lakh tonne.

Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara are the worst flood affected sugar districts in the state. Continuous rains for 12 days submerged the sugarcane. The maximum sugar production in Maharashtra was in 2000-2001, when the state produced a whopping 67 lakh tonne. Later the production declined despite the increase in the number of sugar mills.

There are 553 registered sugar mills spread over 18 states across India with production capacity of 200 lakh metric tonne of sugar. About 60 per cent of these mills are in the co-operative sector, 35 per cent in the private sector and rest in the public sector.

Successive good monsoons helped the Indian sugar production in 2002-03 to reach 20.1 million tonne. But the production was low in the years that followed due to drought and pest in certain major sugar producing states. About four million hectare of land is under sugarcane cultivation with an average yield of 70 MT per hectare.

The average per capita consumption of sugar is estimated at 18.3 kg per year in 2003-04. This is expected to increase to 23- 24 kg by 2010. India is the second largest producer of sugar in the world, having over 15 per cent share of the world's production. Also India remains to be the largest consumer of sugar in the world.