India’s sugarcane crushing operations for the 2025–26 season have picked up pace, with higher cane crushing and sugar production reported so far.
As of December 31, 2025, sugar mills had crushed 1,339.21 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of sugarcane, compared with 1,101.87 LMT during the same period last year. In the ongoing season, 499 sugar mills particiapted in the crushing operations, according to data released by the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Limited (NFCSF).
Sugar output during the period stood at 118.30 LMT, up from 95.60 LMT a year earlier. The average sugar recovery rate reached 8.83% by the end of December, improving from 8.68% recorded on the corresponding date last year.
In Uttar Pradesh, sugar production reached 35.65 LMT after crushing 367.53 LMT of sugarcane, with an average recovery rate of 9.70%. Maharashtra produced 48.70 LMT of sugar after crushing 556.57 LMT of cane, achieving an average recovery of 8.75%. Karnataka recorded sugar output of 22.10 LMT after crushing 279.75 LMT of sugarcane, with an average recovery rate of 7.90%.
As per NFCSF, at this stage, the gross sugar production at the end of the current season (September 2026) is anticipated to be 350 LMT, going by Cycle-1, ethanol allocation, around 35 LMT of sugar is expected to be diverted for ethanol production, thus recording net sugar production of 315 LMT., in which major contributors would be: Maharashtra-110 LMT, Uttar Pradesh-105 LMT, Karnataka-55 LMT, and Gujarat-8 LMT.
Out of this, the expected domestic consumption is 290 LMT, and computing the opening stock of 50 LMT, it will leave a balance of approximately 75 LMT in sugar mills’ godowns.
