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THAKURGAON, Nov 25 (UNB): Sugarcane crushing began Friday afternoon at Thakurgaon Sugar Mills, already burdened with losses totalling Tk 1.2 billion.
Abul Hasim, an elderly sugarcane grower, inaugurated the sugarcane crushing of the current season.
Managing Director of the Mills Abul Kashem said a target has been fixed for producing 7,700 tonnes of sugar by crushing 95,000 tonnes of sugarcane.
He, however, said this season scarcity of sugarcane is a big problem for the mill, established in 1958, whose old and outdated machinery have now become unfit for use.
Sugarcane supply to the mill is likely to decline due to illegal production of molasses in the mill area.
Local sources said about 190 manual and 90-95 power crushers are ready to produce molasses. Although mill gate price has been fixed at Tk 50 per maund of sugarcane, molasses producers were paying Tk 60 to Tk 65 per maund.
Another report from Jhenidah said: Mobarakganj Sugar Mills started sugarcane crushing Friday afternoon with an output target of 12,300 tonnes of sugar by crushing 0.15 million tonnes of sugarcane.
An elderly grower, Abdul Kader Mia, and another elderly worker of the mill, Tajul Islam, inaugurated the sugarcane crushing of the 2005-06 at a simple ceremony with managing director of the mill Sheikh Toyeb in the chair.
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