The production of sugar in the country stood at 7.61 lakh tonnes (LT) till November 15 in the current marketing year. As per data compiled by Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), this is about 32.58% higher compared to production of 5.74 LT in the same period of 2014-15 marketing year (October-September). The crushing operations for the current 2015-16 Sugar Season (SS) have been started in late October and early November in a few parts of the country. 175 mills have started crushing as against 155 in 2014-15 SS same time.
In Maharashtra, 114 sugar mills were in operation and produced 4.31 LT as on November 15, 2015 compared to 97 sugar mills which were in operation in the same period last year producing 3.10 LT of sugar. In Karnataka, there were 30 sugar mills in operation as on November 15, 2015 as against 25 sugar mills which operated last year on the corresponding date. The sugar production during the same period in the state was 1.60 LT, which is almost similar to the production of last season.
Besides, 16 out of 17 sugar mills in Gujarat have started crushing operations in the month of October 2015 itself and these mills have produced 1.10 LT of sugar till November 15, 2015. The same numbers of mills were in operation in the state last year and had produced 0.78 LT of sugar till November 15, 2014.