Indian Express reports Maharashtra expects a bumper sugar production of around 92 to 100 lakh tonnes (lt) with around 190 mills likely to undertake crushing operations.
The drought in 2018 had cast a shadow on the crushing season of 2019-20 with the state recording a crushing of 545.26 lt and producing 61.61 lt of sugar. Majority of the mills in drought-hit Marathwada and Ahmednagar remained closed due to paucity of cane.
However, the Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation has estimated that the state would report 900 lt of crushing and production of 101 lt of sugar.
A source says a major worry for the cooperative sector is also the availability of finances from banks. It is said the govt. is making all possible efforts to ease the situation for cooperative sugar mills.