Sanjeev Chopra, Secretary of the Department of Food & Public Distribution, addressed persistent challenges in India's sugar sector during the ISMA SugarNxt Conference. Despite a 9% rise in sugar production for the 2025-26 season, reaching 272.31 lakh tonnes, the number of operational mills has sharply decreased from 95 to 56. This decline underscores significant inefficiencies, including variations in sugar recovery rates (10.5–10.9%) and underutilized data systems, which hamper decision-making and operational efficiency. Chopra emphasized that optimizing processes across the sugar value chain could reduce losses by 0.2-0.3 percentage points, enhancing overall industry performance. He also noted the importance of timely cane crushing and better field-level planning to improve yields. The government's 20% ethanol blending program has led to savings of nearly ₹1.65 lakh crore, showcasing the potential of policy support. However, industry stakeholders, particularly in Maharashtra, expressed concerns over financial stress due to high cane costs and urged the government to increase the minimum support price (MSP) for sugar to ensure mill viability.