Maharashtra’s sugarcane production could fall by 15% to 20% this season because of below-normal rainfall, Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar said at the opening of the 2026-27 crushing season of the Malegaon cooperative sugar factory in Baramati taluka, Pune district.
The factory’s crushing season is scheduled to begin on October 15, and the management has set a target of processing 12 lakh metric tonnes of sugarcane. Pawar said the rainfall situation had raised concerns about the availability of sugarcane for the season.
The 70th crushing season of the Malegaon factory was inaugurated by Pawar, who is also its chairperson, along with vice-chairperson Nitin Shende. During a review of preparations, Pawar said internal work at the factory for the 2026-27 season had been completed and that the final preparations were under way.
The factory has announced a final sugarcane price of Rs 3,650 per tonne for members for cane crushed during the previous season. It will pay Rs 3,500 per tonne to gate-cane suppliers. Of the amount payable to members, Rs 3,500 per tonne has already been paid, while the remaining Rs 150 per tonne is scheduled to be paid during Diwali. Gate-cane suppliers are also expected to receive the remaining Rs 100 per tonne during the festival, according to the report.
Pawar said the factory would seek to maintain its record of paying competitive sugarcane prices through the contribution of farmer-members, management, harvesting and transport contractors, officers and employees. The factory has also expanded its activities beyond sugar production, including work in by-product manufacturing, according to the report.
One such initiative is a compressed biogas, or CBG, project being developed by the Malegaon factory. The project is expected to cost about Rs 70 crore. Pawar said the project’s commissioning would increase the returns available to sugarcane farmers, although the report does not provide a commissioning date or details of its production capacity.
The factory administration has also received a road-sweeping machine costing about Rs 40 lakh to improve cleanliness within the factory premises. The machine was provided through a joint initiative involving the Environmental Forum of India, Dho. A. Satav Karbhari Foundation, Mahalakshmi Udyog Samuh, IIFL and IKR Foundation, Shende said.
The opening of the crushing season has also triggered discussion about the first instalment payable to farmers. The report says the factory’s Fair and Remunerative Price for the coming season is estimated at around Rs 3,450 per tonne and that the first instalment could be around Rs 3,500 per tonne because of the expected shortage of sugarcane. The report presents this as a possibility under discussion, not as a formally announced payment.
The factory has not announced a confirmed first instalment for the 2026-27 season in the information available. Its immediate operational milestone is the scheduled start of crushing on October 15.
