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 January 15, 2026, sugar mills had crushed 1763.74 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of sugarcane, compared with 1484.04 LMT during the same period last year. In the ongoing season, 519 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 158.85 LMT, up from 130.60 LMT a year earlier. The average sugar recovery rate reached 9.01% by the January 15, improving from 8.80% recorded on the corresponding date last year.
In Uttar Pradesh, sugar production reached 45.70 LMT after crushing 466.33 LMT of sugarcane, with an average recovery rate of 9.80%. Maharashtra produced 64.60 LMT of sugar after crushing 717.78 LMT of cane, achieving an average recovery of 9.00%. Karnataka recorded sugar output of 30.70 LMT after crushing 381.37 LMT of sugarcane, with an average recovery rate of 8.05%.
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.
