Chodavaram Cooperative Sugar Factory crushed 375,000 tonnes of sugarcane during the just-ended crushing season as against 350,000 tonnes in 2008-09.
Attributing the increase in sugarcane supply to higher minimum support price, GV Ramaiah, managing director of Chodavaram, said the mill paid Rs 2,000 per tonne for sugarcane as against Rs 1,300 per tonne last season. The company had initially estimated arrivals at 300,000 tonnes.
However, recovery dropped to 9.5 per cent due to shortage of rainfall, as against 9.9 per cent in the 2008-09 season. The mill produced 355,000 quintals of sugar, as compared with 334,000 quintal last season.
During the crushing period, the sugar mill transferred 13 million units of power to the state power grid and earned about Rs 4.15 crore. It produced 15,000 tonnes of molasses, which is currently ruling at about Rs 5,000 per tonne.
Ramaiah said Chodavaram was spending Rs 30 crore to double its co-generation capacity from the existing 6.25 Mw to 12.50 Mw. The expansion work would take another one-and-a-half years.
