Sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka have started production for the current sugar season — from October 2020 to September 2021 — having produced 14.1 lakh tonnes till November 15.
The Indian Sugar Mills’ Association said in a release that 274 mills in Uttar Pradesh, 117 sugar mills in Maharashtra and 49 units in Karnataka had started operations so far this season. Only about 4.84 lakh tonnes of sugar had been produced by the mills in the year-earlier period.
With an estimated production of 310 lakh tonnes this year, India is expected to have another surplus season and will have to export 60 lakh to 70 lakh tonnes of sugar, the association said.
Ethanol supplied between December last year and November 9 this year stood at 160.23 crore litres. For 2020-2021, the total requirement as per the tender floated by oil firms was about 457.64 crore litres.
This indicated that about 20 lakh tonnes of sugar would be diverted for ethanol production from B heavy molasses and sugarcane juices, it added.