The country’s No. 1 sugar producing State, Maharashtra, has cut its output estimates for the ensuing 2009-10 crushing season (October to September).
The state had earlier expected to crush 455 lakh tonnes of cane, which, at an average recovery of 11.5 per cent, would have yielded around 52 lakh tonnes of sugar. But now, it looks mills would crush only 410 lakh tonnes, translating into a sugar production of slightly over 47 lakh tonnes.
The new projection is not markedly higher than the 46.14 lakh tonnes produced during the 2008-09 season, which saw 400.42 lakh tonnes of cane being crushed at an average recovery of 11.52 per cent. That, in turn, could have a bearing on the overall sugar supply-demand balance for the coming year, which is predicted on the prospects of a significant recovery in output from the official 150 to 155 lakh tonnes estimate for 2008-09.
Maharashtra’s downward revision is being attributed to the delayed onset of southwest monsoon rains. The cane producing areas had hardly received any rains throughout June.
It led to a severe shortage of fodder. And since the only patch of green that could be seen then was the semi-mature, standing cane crop, some of it got diverted for fodder. Even, last year a certain percentage of cane crop was diverted for fodder due to erratic rains.
The farmers get anything around Rs 2,000 a tonne for the fodder and that too, in ready cash (as against the average Rs 1,400 that mills paid for the fully mature cane crushed during the recent season). June being so dry, nobody thought the rains to recover in July (as they did). So, there was a desperate demand for fodder to feed the animals and the cane growers just cashed in on that.
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