G.V. Rao, Chief Executive Officer of KCP Sugars told The Hindu that the recovery of sugar per ton of cane was about 95 kilos compared to about 130 kilos in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and north Karnataka.
It implied that raw material cost was for the same quantity of sugarcane was far higher for sugar mills in Andhra Pradesh than their competitors in neighbouring States.
“New superior varieties of sugarcane are not emerging as practically nothing is being done at research centres, including the country’s only Sugarcane Breeding Institute at Coimbatore. Even if one per cent more sugar can be recovered from a ton of sugarcane, it will be immensely beneficial to both farmers and the sugar mills”, he observed.
