Maharashtra sugar mills to start crushing on Sat amid cane payment concerns

Mills in Uttar Pradesh, however, are waiting for the cane to mature and hope to start crushing around Diwali.

Amid uncertainty over cane farmers’ advance payments, dozens of sugar mills in Maharashtra are set to commence crushing for the current season (October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019) on Saturday.

Mills in Uttar Pradesh, however, are waiting for the cane to mature and hope to start crushing around Diwali.

With this, sugar mills will delay commencement of their crushing operations by three weeks in Maharashtra and by over six weeks in Uttar Pradesh despite estimates of an all-time high cane crop output in the current season. 

According to the First Advanced Estimate, India’s sugarcane output is estimated around 384 million tonnes for 2018-19 compared to 377 million tonnes in the previous year. Surprisingly, unlike the past few years of cane glut, neither the Maharashtra nor Uttar Pradesh governments encouraged sugar mills to commence crushing for the current season. 

Both the governments, in consultations with the industry, had announced earlier that crushing activity this year will commence early to control the record high availability of cane.

More related news follow Market captain .