Sugar production to take a hit in Maharashtra

Sugar production in Maharashtra is likely to take a hit this year as poor climatic conditions have caused large-scale dam to sugarcane crop, an official said on Thursday. Only 150 sugar factories in Maharashtra are likely to be operational this year compared to 195 last year, official ded.

"Drought-like condition that prevailed in state over last three years and unseasonal rainfall this year have posed problems for sugarcane cultivation," Maharashtra State Co-operative Sugar Factories Federation Ltd chairman and former MLA Jayprakash Dandegaonkar said.

"Sugar production in state will decrease this year, as we expect only 150 sugar factories to take up production compared to 195 last year," he said.

Last year, 102  co-operative and 93 private factories were engd in sugar production, he said. While 850 lakh tonnes of sugarcane was crushed in 2018, quantum has come down to 550 lakh tonnes this year, he ded.

" quality of crop has also suffered, which is why quality of sugar produced is likely to be affected," he ded. official, however, said that although production is set to go down, price of sugar in country will remain unaffected as re was eugh stock to meet market demand.