DHARMAPURI: Two sugar mills in Dharmapuri district are the best performers in terms of sugar recovery rate from the cane crushed. Subramaniya Siva Cooperative Sugarmill Ltd (SSCS) in Harur had the highest recovery rate of sugar at 10.65%, while the Dharmapuri Cooperative Sugar Mill Ltd (DCSM) in Palcode stood at the second spot (10.10%) in Tamil Nadu in the year 2023-24.
The sugar recovery rate is the ratio between sugar produced versus cane crushed, expressed as a percentage. It indicates the sugar production per metric ton of sugarcane.
Dharmapuri district is one of the largest producers of sugarcane in Tamil Nadu. In 2023-24, the Subramaniya Siva Cooperative Sugarmill had ground an average of 2.84 lakh metric tonnes (mt) of cane with a recovery rate of 10.65% and the Dharmapuri Cooperative Sugarmill in Palacode had ground a total of 1.37 lakh mt of sugarcane with a recovery rate of 10.10 %.
Speaking to TNIE, Managing Director of the SSCS, R Priya told TNIE, ” Apart from being the mill with the highest recovery rate, our mill also paid the highest price, 3,747.80 per tonne. A total of92.2 crores has been paid to the farmers. While our recovery rate had declined from 10.92 % in 2022-23, we still retain the highest recovery rate in the state. The decline in recovery rate is due to the poor climatic conditions and the root grub attack which had impacted the quality of sugarcane. In the coming year, a target of 1.60 MT has been fixed and we are conducting a campaign to encourage farmers to improve the cultivation area.”
Meanwhile, officials of the second-ranked Dharmapuri Cooperative Sugarmill Ltd said, “In 2023-24, we received 1.37,778 lakh mt of sugarcane for grinding and we had a recovery of 10.10%. Farmers were provided remuneration of `3,565 per tonne and this includes the state government assistance. We are focused on improving the recovery and promoting various cultivation techniques and awareness of government schemes among farmers. So far we have about 3,000 acres of cultivation area registered for 2023-24.
