India's sugar industry has delivered a robust performance in the 2025 season, marking significant improvements across crucial metrics including sugarcane crushing, sugar output, and recovery rates compared to the previous year. This positive trend emerged even as key producing regions like Uttar Pradesh battled severe crop challenges.
State-Wise Performance: Maharashtra Takes the Lead
The data reveals a clear leader among India's sugar-producing giants. Maharashtra emerged as the top performer, achieving remarkable growth. By December 31, 2025, the state had crushed a massive 556.57 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of sugarcane using 197 operational mills. This is a substantial jump from the 347.67 LMT processed in the same period of 2024.
Consequently, sugar production in Maharashtra skyrocketed to 48.7 LMT, a sharp increase from 29 LMT a year earlier. The state also enhanced its sugar recovery rate to 8.75% in 2025, up from 8.6%.
Uttar Pradesh's Resilience and Karnataka's Output Growth
Despite facing significant setbacks from disease infestation in its western and Terai regions following heavy monsoon floods, Uttar Pradesh demonstrated resilience. The state marginally increased its sugarcane crushing to 367.53 LMT through 119 mills, compared to 366.29 LMT in 2024.
More impressively, Uttar Pradesh achieved the highest sugar recovery rate among major states at 9.7% by December 31, an increase of 0.8 percentage points over 2024. This efficiency helped boost its sugar production to 35.65 LMT from 32.62 LMT.
Karnataka also reported growth, crushing 279.75 LMT of sugarcane versus 241.76 LMT in 2024. Although its recovery rate dipped to 7.9% from 8.5%, the state's sugar production rose to 22.1 LMT from 20.55 LMT a year earlier.
National Picture and Expert Analysis
At the all-India level, the figures underscore a strong year for the sector. Prakash Naiknavare, Managing Director of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories, provided the national snapshot. By December, 499 sugar mills across 12 states had crushed a total of 1,339.21 LMT of sugarcane, up from 1,101.87 LMT in 2024.
National sugar production for the period stood at 118.30 LMT, a significant rise from 95.6 LMT the previous year. The overall recovery rate improved from 8.69% to 8.83%.
Naiknavare attributed this enhanced performance to better utilisation of installed milling capacity, which was supported by ongoing technological innovations and skill development initiatives within the industry. This systemic improvement helped offset localized agricultural challenges and drove the sector's overall growth.
