North Bengal Sugar Mill under Lalpur upazila in the district suspended its operation on Tuesday night for want of sugarcane.
The mill started operation on November 11 last year to produce 12,750 tonnes of sugar by crushing 170,000 tonnes of sugarcane during its 103-day operational period.
However, it produced 9,850 tonnes of sugar by crushing 135,400 tonnes of sugarcane in the last 90 days (November 11 to February 08), officials said.
Mahbubur Rahman, managing director (MD) of North Bengal Sugar Mill, said supply of sugarcane was not enough to keep the mill functional for the rest 13 days.
Therefore, the authorities were compelled to suspend operation, he added.
The sugar mill has incurred a loss of Tk 12 crore this year. The mill also faced Tk 22 crore loss in last two years, the MD said.
Thakurgaon Sugar Mills also suspended its operation on Tuesday, after operating 67 days in the current season, for want of sugarcane.
The mill started operation on December 2 last year of produce 6,300 tonnes of sugar by crushing 90,000 tonnes of sugarcanes during its 75-day operation period.
However, the mill produced about 4,800 tonnes of sugar by crushing 79,486 tonnes sugarcanes in the last 67 days with a recovery rate of 6.04.
During the operation, the mill was forced to stop operation for about 40 hours due to mechanical faults, officials said.
As the molasses is sold at Tk. 70 per kg while the sugar at Tk 55 in the local markets, farmers became interested to produce molasses for instant profit. And this has put the mill into sugarcane crisis, the officials observed.
Earlier in the current season, two other sugar mills in northern districts of Joypurhat and Natore also met the same fate for want of sugarcane.