The Indian Government has projected a higher sugar output at around 25 million tonnes for the current 2017-18 season (October-September), as against 20.3 million tonnes in the last year.
More than a dozen mills in key sugar producing states like Uttar Pradesh have started crushing operations this year, a Food Ministry official said.
The official was quoted by media reports as saying that the crushing operations will pick up in the coming days.
In Haryana also sugar, mills will start sugarcane crushing from November 1, which is 21 days ahead of the current crushing season. More than 512 mills are likely to operate this year as there is good sugarcane output owing to better rains. Last year, only 490 mills were able to operate because of tight supply of cane, the official added.
There are about 700 mills in the country, of which 525 are operational and half of them are private-owned and the rest are cooperatives.