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ATM News Network: More than two dozen sugar mills in Maharashtra, India's top sugar-producing state, stopped sugarcane crushing at the end of February, nearly two months earlier than last year due to inclement weather, informed a senior state government official. As a result, Maharashtra is likely to produce much less sugar than the initial estimate of 13.8 million tonnes, reducing the overall production of the country.
According to a report by the Economic Times, India, the world's second-largest exporter of sugar, will not be able to export the surplus if its sugar production falls. Similarly, due to a possible increase in global price, the sugar export from rival countries Brazil and Thailand will increase.
Maharashtra, which accounts for more than a third of India's sugar production, produced 9.51 million tonnes of sugar in the 2022/23 marketing year that began on October 1. At the same stage last season, 9.73 million tonnes of sugar had been produced, a senior government official told Reuters.
13 sugar factories have been shut down in Solapur division and another 20 factories will be closed in the next fortnight," said a state government official on condition of anonymity.
All factories in the state, except about two dozen sugar mills, will be closed by the end of March, the official said. Sugar mills were operational till mid-June in 2021/22 due to bumper production of sugarcane in Maharashtra.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by ATM staff and is published from a web feed.)
(Source - Economics Times)
