Karnataka has emerged as the third largest producer of sugar in the country after Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh for the year 2007-08.
The state has produced a record 29 lakh tonnes sugar by crushing close to 270 lakh tonnes of sugarcane, a growth of around 12 per cent compared to the last sugar season (October 2006-September 2007).
The state achieved a growth of around 11 per cent in the cane crushed during the year compared to the last year.
With this, Karnataka has also become the largest producer of sugar in south India, beating Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. During the year 2007-08, Maharashtra has continued its dominance in sugar production and stood at top position by producing an estimated 91 lakh tonnes followed by Uttar Pradesh which produced 73 lakh tonnes.
According to South Indian Sugar Mills’ Association (SISMA), during the year, the sugar mills in Karnataka achieved an average recovery of 10.54 per cent as against the mills in north India, which normally manage to show a recovery of 12 per cent.
The sugar recovery performance of Karnataka mills was much better when compared to mills in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, which showed a recovery of 9.35 per cent and 10.12 per cent respectively.
Tamil Nadu has stood at second place in the south after Karnataka with a sugar production of 18.81 lakh tonnes by crushing 201 lakh tonnes of cane at the end of June 2008. Andhra Pradesh, for the same period stood at the third position by producing 13.36 lakh tonnes of sugar out of 132 lakh tonnes of cane crushed. Tamil Nadu has 39 active sugar factories.
The performance was much higher than the target set by the state. The target set by SISMA for the state was 27 lakh tonnes of sugar out of 270 lakh tonnes of cane for the year. The mills from Karnataka also contributed to the national exports during the year. They exported 6 lakh tonnes during the year.
The year 2007-08 also saw an addition of 3 greenfield sugar mills in the state to take the total to 51 active mills. The combined crushing capacity has gone up to 180,450 tonnes crushed per day (TCD), a growth of around 5 per cent over the previous year.
Karnataka accounts for about 10 per cent of the country’s output. According to current indications India’s output for the next year is likely to drop by 20 per cent, driven by a fall in area under cultivation. Sugarcane production follows a three-year cycle ending with 2007-08 being the year of peak output.
The state’s production is also likely to come down by 25-30 per cent for the next year, SISMA sources said.
