The Mubarakganj Sugar Mill, one of the most prominent sugar production facilities in southern Bangladesh, has officially inaugurated its 2025–26 sugarcane crushing and sugar production season, reports Dhaka Tribune.
The mill, now entering its 59th crushing season, launched its operations at 3 p.m. on Friday. Industries Ministry Secretary Obaidur Rahman joined the event virtually to mark the occasion. The ceremony was chaired by Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Industries, Rashidul Hasan, and attended by numerous special guests, including Dr. Abdul Alim Khan, Joint Secretary and Director of the Bangladesh Sugar & Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC); Selim Reza, CEO of Jhenaidah Zila Parishad; and the mill’s Managing Director, Md. A.N.M. Zobaer.
For the current season, the mill has set an ambitious target to crush 80,000 metric tons of sugarcane over 56 days of operation. They aim to produce 4,400 metric tons of sugar, with an estimated sugar recovery rate of 5.50%. The price for purchasing sugarcane from farmers has been fixed at Tk 250 per maund this season.
In a major move to increase transparency and efficiency, mill authorities have installed 42 new digital weighing machines. For the first time, farmers will have their cane weighed digitally, and both the exact weight and the corresponding payment amount will be sent instantly to them via text message. Payments will also be sped up, being processed through mobile banking within 24 to 48 hours.
GM (Agriculture) Gautam Kumar Mondal stated that this new digital system is expected to reduce delays and eliminate all complaints related to weighing and payments. He also noted that the consistent increase in sugarcane purchase prices in recent years has successfully encouraged more local farmers to return to cane cultivation.
The current targets show a significant planned increase over previous years. In the 2024–25 season, the mill crushed 70,000 metric tons over 50 days, producing 3,868 metric tons of sugar (surpassing the 3,378 MT target) with a recovery rate of 5.40%, and paid farmers Tk 240 per maund. The season before that, 2023–24, saw a much smaller operation, with 49,280 metric tons crushed in 40 days, yielding 1,870 metric tons of sugar, and the purchase price was Tk 220 per maund.
