Additionally, during this season, certain mills displayed signs of consolidation by expanding their crushing capacity more significantly than others. State sugar commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad told reporters in Pune on Thursday that 210 mills crushed cane this season.
"This was the highest such number in the last 100 years," he explained. During the previous season, 173 mills were active in cane crushing.
He further stated that the per-day cane crushing capacity reached a new high of 8.85 lakh tonnes, with the season being reduced to 121 days from 173 days the previous year.
The mills crushed 1,052.88 million tonnes of cane and produced 105.31 million tonnes of sugar by the end of the season. This, however, was a significant decrease from the state's projected output of 137 lakh tonnes for the season.
"Excessive rains after September and a delayed start to the monsoon took a toll on per-hectare production," Gaikwad explained. The production drop is estimated to be around 40% per hectare," he stated. Along with the decrease in production, the ratio of sugar produced to cane crushed decreased. Gaikwad estimated that the average recovery, after accounting for ethanol diversion, would be 11.15 percent, as opposed to the 11.25 percent reported by the state, attributing this to natural occurrences.
According to the official, a significant aspect of this season was the large-scale conversion of mills to ethanol. "Our mills have adopted the Brazilian model, diverting cane juice directly to the production of ethanol." "Five mills will solely produce ethanol next season," he added, adding that 16 lakh tonnes of sugar were assimilated for ethanol production this season.
Gaikwad further stated that at the end of the season, mills that were supposed to pay farmers Rs 33,3278 crore (including harvesting and transportation costs) as the government-mandated fair and remunerative price (FRP) paid Rs 31,861 crore- 95.74 percent. "A total of 101 mills have cleared all of their payments. Eight mills were sanctioned for failing to pay farmers on time, according to the official.
