Private sugar mills in Maharashtra have sought compensation of 500 rupees per tonne from the central government for the likely losses they would incur due to lower sugar recovery rate because of early crushing of sugarcane. 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. Mills typically begin crushing cane in November, when the sugar recovery rate is 10-11%, but in October, the recovery rate is lower at 8.5-9.0%. An early start to the season in the month of October would lead to 1.5% to 2% recovery losses to individual mills.