New Delhi, Feb 2 : Sugar production in the country rose by over 25 per cent to 176.83 lakh tonnes in the four months of the current cane crushing season 2020-21 (October-September), compared with 141.04 lakh tonnes during the corresponding period in 2019-20 season. The Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said on Tuesday in a statement that 491 sugar mills in operation as of January 31, 2021 produced 176.83 lakh tonnes of sugar from October 2020 till January 2021, compared with 141.04 lakh tonnes produced by 447 mills as of January 31, 2020. In Maharashtra, sugar production was 63.80 lakh tonnes till January 31, 2021, compared with 34.64 lakh tonnes produced in the same period in the last season. In the current season, 182 sugar mills are in operation compared with 140 mills in the 2019-20 season, said the apex industry body. In Uttar Pradesh, 120 mills produced 54.43 lakh tonnes of sugar till January 31, 2021, compared with 54.96 lakh tonnes produced by 119 mills as of corresponding date of 2019-20 season. In Karnataka, till January 31, 2021, 66 mills produced 34.38 lakh tonnes of sugar, compared with 27.94 lakh tonnes produced by 63 mills during the same period in 2019-20. Gujarat produced 5.55 lakh tonnes of sugar till January 31, 2021 at 15 mills. Last year, 15 sugar mills in operation produced 4.87 lakh tonnes of sugar till January 31, 2020. In Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, 37 sugar mills in operation produced 3.56 lakh tonnes as of January 31, 2021, compared with 4.39 lakh tonnes produced by 39 sugar mills as of the corresponding date in 2019-20 season. The remaining states of Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Odisha collectively produced 15.11 lakh tonnes of sugar till January 31, 2021. Sugar sales in the first three months of the current season, i.e., up to December 31, 2020, is reported to be more or less similar to last season's around 67.5 lakh tonnes, said ISMA. /IANS