Reportedly nearly 36 lakh tonne sugar has been exported from maharashtra between january and june this year as against the target of 60 lakh tonne during the period, an official said on Monday. The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown has slowed down the export process, maharashtra State Cooperative sugar Factories Federation Chairman Jayprakash Dandegaonkar said.

Nearly 570 lakh tonne sugarcane was crushed by 144 sugar mills in the state from november 2019 to june this year and 63 lakh tonne sugar was produced so far, he said. "The export of 36 lakh tonne is completed. Various deals have been signed for another six lakh tonne and sugar is being moved out of the godowns for export, Dandegaonkar said. So far, most of the sugar has been exported to indonesia and iran, he informed. From january to june last year, 952 lakh tonne of sugarcane was crushed to produce 107 lakh tonne sugar, he added. The sugarcane crushing generally begins from november and goes on till March. Meanwhile Two-wheeler companies have ramped up production to pre-Covid levels of february, to meet the demand coming from rural areas. hero MotoCorp, which gets half its orders from the rural market, is targeting a dispatch of 450,000 units in june, say media reports. 

Moreover the company has opened almost 90 per cent of its dealerships and its manufacturing plants have started moving back from single to double shifts. Eicher Motors is said to be rapidly increasing its bookings to 60,000 units a month, in line with its pre-Covid bookings. Bajaj auto has said production is being ramped up to 50 to 75 per cent of its usual supply, with Pantnagar, which has an exports focus, leading the way. TVS Motor, too, is said to be targeting around 50 per cent utilisation in June. What seems to be aiding these better production numbers is the return of suppressed demand from the lockdown days. But, how sustainable is this demand? “In a month or two, we should be back [to pre-Covid demand and production],” says Rajiv Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Auto. “But how far this sustains, we do not know.” Bajaj says that 66 per cent of the supply chain is back in operation. deepak Jain, president of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association and managing director of Lumax industries, says the entire supply chain for auto parts is operational. This would mean that the supply chain is now ready to rise up to any increase in demand for vehicles.