A woman carries a bundle of cut sugarcane on her head as farmers harvest a field outside Gove village in Satara district, about 260km (161 miles) south of Mumbai May 10, 2011. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash/Files
MUMBAI, September 20 (Reuters) - Millers in Maharashtra will start sugarcane crushing from Nov. 1 as heavy rains in the last few days made it difficult for them to advance the operations, two senior government officials said on Wednesday.
Federal government wanted millers in Maharashtra, the country's second-biggest sugar producing state, to advance crushing of cane to boost supplies during the current festive season and keep a lid on local prices.
"In today's meeting with the chief minister we have decided to start crushing from Nov. 1, considering heavy rainfall in central Maharashtra in the last few days," a senior government official who attended the meeting said.
