Sugar mills across the country are likely to produce over 800,000 tonne sugar in October. Usually, sugar mills produce about 300,000 tonne or less sugar in October. The Centre has asked millers across the country to begin cane crushing operations for the 2017-18 (Oct-Sep) season early in October, in a bid to tide over likely shortages during the festival season. ISMA has estimated mills in Uttar Pradesh produce about 293,000 tonne sugar and those in Maharashtra about 391,000 tonne of the sweetener in October. Sugar output in October is projected at 6,000 tonne for Tamil Nadu, at 91,000 tonne for Karnataka and at 22,000 tonne for Gujarat. Crushing at almost all sugar mills across the country would be in full swing by Nov 1. Therefore, we can expect to get another 16-17 lac tons (1.6-1.7 million tonne) sugar in the first 15 days of November.