Top 11 districts in UP report 1.6% drop in sugarcane acreage; sugar output may be hit

The 11 major sugar-producing districts in Uttar Pradesh, where top 20 mills are located and which have a combined share of 68 per cent in the state’s production of 89.52 lakh tonnes (lt) of the commodity in the current season, may have to face problems.

This is because the acreage has slipped 1.6 per cent amid factories preparing to start crushing early. Besides, a likely early start of factories with lower recovery and the demand from local gur manufacturers (kolhus) may also limit cane supply, potentially affecting overall sugar production in the State.

Latest data show that 32.11 lt of sugar was produced only by 20 sugar mills including the top three by Triveni Engineering and DCM Shriram at there Khatauli, Ajbapur and Daurala mills. On the other hand, based on the locations of these 20 mills, there are 11 districts which are crucial for the sugar production in the State in the upcoming season.

Sugar production in the current season, which will end on September 30, in these 11 districts – Amroha, Bijnor, Bulandshahr, Hardoi, Lakhimpur Kheri, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Pilibhit, Saharanpur, Shahjahanpur and Sitapur – was 60.96 lt.

However, the acreage of sugarcane, which will be available for crushing in 2026-27 season starting October 1, in these districts has slipped to 17.14 lakh hectare. Sources said that except Bijnor and Lakhimpur Kheri, the area has dipped in all other nine districts.

The fall in area is also upto 14 per cent whereas the increase is only about 0.5 per cent, the sources said. “As the government has been insisting on early crushing, and if that happens will result in lower production since recovery will drop.

It is early to say whether mills will start early as it will depend on the prevailing prices of sugar at that time. Now that both ex-mill and retail prices have declined from their peak, and with higher quota allocated for September, the prices may not surge and there may be marginal drop from current level,” said a sugarcane expert D K Tyagi.

However, the early crushing has its both merits and demerits, he said adding on the positive note it will augment domestic supply in October, November, but on the macro level the sugar production for the entire season could be affected due to lower area and other factors as well.

The average recovery of sugar from crushing sugarcane in 2025-26 season in Uttar Pradesh was 10.19 per cent, whereas in these top 20 plants it is higher at 10.4 per cent. There are sugar mills like Triveni’s Sabitgarh unit which recorded highest 11.51 per cent, followed by a mill at Mansurpur reporting 11.25 per cent and Bajaj Hindusthan’s Kinauni unit 11.22 per cent, sources said.

Tyagi suggested that the government should focus on increasing recovery in low yielding mills as there is a potential to add up production there rather than asking for early crushing. He cited the example of a mill, having 1.68 lt sugar production and in the top eighth list but its recovery is less than 9 per cent.

He pointed out that, as many as 24 mills have less than 9.5 per cent recovery and the mill having highest recovery of 11.64 per cent is not in the list of top 20. Industry experts said that as there is a demand for gur (jaggery) amid its retail price crossing Rs 100/kg this year and now selling at about Rs 90 in Uttar Pradesh, sugar mills will face competition from these units in October as the local kolhus are likely to pay more than the government-set rate for sugarcane.

Farmer leader V M Singh said that sugar mills should not ask for incentives as the gur units paid higher than SAP this season without any government support. There should be competitionand farmers should be paid higher by mills also if their realisation is better, he added.