25 days after deadline lapse: only 8 out of 31 Sindh sugar mills start crushing cane

Despite the directives of government to start crushing season by November 1, majority of the sugar mills in Sindh have not yet started sugarcane crushing. Industry sources told Business Recorder that out of the total 31 Sindh's sugar mills, so far only eight mills had started crushing.
They said that as many as eight mills were in the process of lighting-up boilers to start crushing in next couple of days. The eight mills that have started crushing are: Tharparkar Sugar Mills, Sanghar Sugar Mills, Mitaiari Sugar Mills, Faran Sugar Mills, Khairpur Sugar Mills, Kiran Sugar Mills and Ranipur Sugar Mills.
Degree Sugar Mills, Mehran Sugar Mills, Sanghar Sugar Mills, Al-Noor Sugar Mills, Sindh Abadgar Sugar Mills, Habib Sugar Mills, Ansari Sugar Mills, New Dadu Sugar Mills, Naudero Sugar Mills, Army Welfare Sugar Mills, Sakrand Sugar Mills, Shahmurad Sugar Mills, Dewan Sugar Mills, Sehri Sugar Mills, Al-Asif Sugar Mills, Tando Muhammad Khan Sugar Mills, Al-Abbas Sugar Mills, Mirpurkhas Sugar Mills, Al-Abbas Sugar Mills, Larr Sugar Mills, Ghotki Sugar Mills, Pangrio Sugar Mills, Mirza Sugar Mills, Bawany Sugar Mills, Najma Sugar Mills, and Dewan Sugar Mills, Badin will start crushing within next two weeks.
Industry sources said that sugar mills situated in flood-effected areas of Sindh including district Nawbshah and Badin would start crushing season by the end of December. The government has this year fixed sugarcane price at Rs 154 per 40 kg.
Pakistan is the sixth largest sugar producer in the world. Its 86 sugar mills have the capacity of producing 7.0 million tons sugar annually, indeed with full capacity utilisation that would need supply of 80 million tones of sugarcane, the best being 53 million tons in 2007-08.
Sharing the details of sugar production in the year 2010-2011, Deoomal A. Essarani, Chairman Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) Sindh Zone said that 84 odd sugar mills produced 4.1 million tons of sugar. Sindh produced 1.3 million tons, Punjab produced 2.5 million tons and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KPK) produced 0.250 million tons of sugar.
In 2008-09, the sugar production in Sindh stood at 9.5 lac tons, which was increased to 1.1 million in 2009-10. Industry sources said that sugar production is expected to increase this year due to the better sugar cane crop in the country. The sugar cane has been cultivated on 10 percent additional area as compared to last year, besides yield of the cane looking much good due to availability of adequate water for the crop.