India’s sugar production increased by 23.43 percent in October-December: NFCSF

Co-operative body NFCSF on Wednesday said India’s sugar production rose by 23.43% to 11.83 million tonnes in the first three months of the current 2025-26 season due to a sharp increase in Maharashtra production.

Sugar production stood at 9.56 million tonnes in the year-ago period, while total production for the entire 2024-25 season (October-September) stood at 26.18 million tonnes.

As of December 31, about 499 mills crushed 134 million tonnes of sugarcane, producing 11.8 million tonnes of sugar at an average sugar recovery of 8.83%, the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd (NFCSF) said in a statement.

Also read: India’s sugar production rises 43 percent in October-November due to strong performance by Maharashtra

Sugar production in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s largest sugar producing state, increased to 3.56 million tonnes during the October-December period of the 2025-26 season from 3.26 million tonnes a year ago.

Sugar production in Maharashtra, the country’s second-largest producer, rose by 63% to 4.87 million tonnes from 2.99 million tonnes, while in Karnataka, production rose to 2.21 million tonnes from 2.05 million tonnes in the said period.

During the said period, sugar production increased to 2,85,000 tonnes in Gujarat, 1,95,000 tonnes in Bihar and 1,30,000 tonnes in Uttarakhand. NFCSF has estimated sugar production at 31.5 million tonnes for the 2025-26 season, excluding diversion of 3.5 million tonnes for ethanol.