Officials at Vellore co-op mill elated at 15-yr high recovery of sugar

VELLORE: Vellore Cooperative Sugar Mill officials were elated over the unit in the current crushing season achieving an average sugar recovery of 10 per cent with the last day’s DMR (Daily Mill Report) revealing it as 10.70 per cent.

“This is the first time in 15 years that the mill has crossed the 10 per cent mark as the usual average till now hovered around 9 per cent,” said the mill chairman M Anandan.

“Another plus point for the facility is that crushing is expected to extend beyond the scheduled closing date of April 4,” said Anandan and added that this was because good rain last year had resulted in increased water availability and a temperate climate which prevented sugar cane from drying before it reached the mill.

Such good climatic conditions resulted in cane farmers getting a yield of 45 tonnes per acre which was nearly 5 tonnes more than normal.

Asked if the mill planned to adopt the pit planting method which in Punjab had nearly doubled existing cane yields, Anandan said, “the problem with the pit method was that cane could be harvested only manually and the cane harvesters would not be fit for this job. This would affect the state’s cane modernisation drive which in itself was due to lack of labour for cane cutting.”

Such a scenario has resulted in the mill anticipating a total crushing of more than 2.50 lakh tonnes as against the targeted 2.30 lakh tonnes.

“The mill crushed 1.54 lakh tonnes last year which then we thought was good. But this year we will surpass this by nearly 1 lakh tonnes,” Anandan said.

The surprise visit of State Sugar Commissioner C Vijay Rajkumar, when he came to Vellore during Chief Minister MK Stalin’s visit on February 1, also helped in raising staff morale. “The commissioner heaped praise on the mill’s functioning and called on staff to exceed the target,” official sources said.

Good climatic conditions resulted in cane farmers getting a yield of 45 tonnes per acre which was nearly 5 tonnes more than normal.

Asked if the mill planned to adopt the pit planting method which in Punjab had nearly doubled existing cane yields, Anandan said, “the problem with the pit method was that cane could be harvested only manually and the cane harvesters would not be fit for this job. This would affect the state’s cane modernisation drive which in itself was due to lack of labour for cane cutting.”

Such a scenario has resulted in the mill anticipating a total crushing of more than 2.50 lakh tonnes as against the targeted 2.30 lakh tonnes.

“The mill crushed 1.54 lakh tonnes last year which then we thought was good. But this year we will surpass this by nearly 1 lakh tonnes,” Anandan said.

The surprise visit of State Sugar Commissioner C Vijay Rajkumar, when he came to Vellore during Chief Minister MK Stalin’s visit on February 1, also helped in raising staff morale. “The commissioner heaped praise on the mill’s functioning and called on staff to exceed the target,” official sources said.