28 JUL, 2012, JAYASHREE BHOSALE, ET BUREAU
PUNE: The sugarcane availability estimate in Maharashtra has been further revised downward from 650 lakh tonne by June-end to 605 lakh tonne as of today, a decline of 45 lakh tonnes. Sugar production may drop to 70 lakh quintals from 90 lakh quintals last year.
The state sugar commissionerate held a meeting of all the sugar co-operatives in the state on Wednesday to assess the cane availability. Maharashtra sugar commissioner Vijay Singhal said, ""We now expect that the cane availability will be about 605 lakh tonnes. The reduction has come mainly because of absence of rainfall and diversion of cane for fodder."" If the rainfall does not improve in next 15 days then the cane availability is likely to worsen further.
Maharashtra co-operation secretary Rajgopal Devara said, ""Cane availability will be less this year as thousands of tonnes of sugar cane is being diverted for use as fodder. We will send our official first estimate of cane availability to the centre by the end of the current month."" The co-operation department controls the sugar industry as most of the mills in the state are in co-operative sector.
Maharashtra had crushed 771 lakh tonne sugarcane and produced about 90 lakh quintal sugar in 2010-11. This year, the area under cane has reduced from 10.05 lakh ha last year to 9.45 lakh ha as of today. Maharashtra has been facing drought-like conditions from the beginning of the current year. Cane is being diverted on large scale for consumption as fodder. The industry has kept its fingers crossed and is expecting that a situation like 2003 does not come when the cattle camps had to be run through out the year.
As the dam water levels are critical and not sufficient even for drinking water purpose, dam water supply to agriculture has been stopped from over a month. As a result, the per hectare yield of the standing crop is expected to decline by 20% to 25%.
More decline in cane availability is in rain shadow districts like Solapur, Ahmednagar, Pune and Satara. KN Nibe, managing director, Shri Pandurang Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana from Solapur district said, ""We expect the cane availability to decline by about 25% in Solapur district. There is negative water level in some of the major dams supplying water to our district."" Cane availability in Solapur is expected to decline from 145 lakh tonnes last year to 100 lakh tonne as of today. Kolhapur, the main sugar producing district is likely to suffer less as the reservoirs have good water levels.
The sugar industry is expecting two possibilities about beginning of the crushing season. If the rainfall does not improve, then the mills have to start operations early from September because mills require water for running their boilers. If the rainfall improves, then the crushing season will begin by November-end, after Diwali gets over. Early crushing reduces sugar recovery while late crushing is good to extract maximum sugar from the cane.
PUNE: The sugarcane availability estimate in Maharashtra has been further revised downward from 650 lakh tonne by June-end to 605 lakh tonne as of today, a decline of 45 lakh tonnes. Sugar production may drop to 70 lakh quintals from 90 lakh quintals last year.
The state sugar commissionerate held a meeting of all the sugar co-operatives in the state on Wednesday to assess the cane availability. Maharashtra sugar commissioner Vijay Singhal said, ""We now expect that the cane availability will be about 605 lakh tonnes. The reduction has come mainly because of absence of rainfall and diversion of cane for fodder."" If the rainfall does not improve in next 15 days then the cane availability is likely to worsen further.
Maharashtra co-operation secretary Rajgopal Devara said, ""Cane availability will be less this year as thousands of tonnes of sugar cane is being diverted for use as fodder. We will send our official first estimate of cane availability to the centre by the end of the current month."" The co-operation department controls the sugar industry as most of the mills in the state are in co-operative sector.
Maharashtra had crushed 771 lakh tonne sugarcane and produced about 90 lakh quintal sugar in 2010-11. This year, the area under cane has reduced from 10.05 lakh ha last year to 9.45 lakh ha as of today. Maharashtra has been facing drought-like conditions from the beginning of the current year. Cane is being diverted on large scale for consumption as fodder. The industry has kept its fingers crossed and is expecting that a situation like 2003 does not come when the cattle camps had to be run through out the year.
As the dam water levels are critical and not sufficient even for drinking water purpose, dam water supply to agriculture has been stopped from over a month. As a result, the per hectare yield of the standing crop is expected to decline by 20% to 25%.
More decline in cane availability is in rain shadow districts like Solapur, Ahmednagar, Pune and Satara. KN Nibe, managing director, Shri Pandurang Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana from Solapur district said, ""We expect the cane availability to decline by about 25% in Solapur district. There is negative water level in some of the major dams supplying water to our district."" Cane availability in Solapur is expected to decline from 145 lakh tonnes last year to 100 lakh tonne as of today. Kolhapur, the main sugar producing district is likely to suffer less as the reservoirs have good water levels.
The sugar industry is expecting two possibilities about beginning of the crushing season. If the rainfall does not improve, then the mills have to start operations early from September because mills require water for running their boilers. If the rainfall improves, then the crushing season will begin by November-end, after Diwali gets over. Early crushing reduces sugar recovery while late crushing is good to extract maximum sugar from the cane.
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