North Bengal Sugar Mills was established in 1933 by the Messrs Surujmal and Nagrumal during the
British Raj. The mill produced
bagasse,
molasses, and Sugarcane press mud. This was in revenge for a
Mukti Bahini ambush on the Pakistan Army at the Gopalpur railway station, later renamed Azim Nagar. Azim was awarded the
Independence Award, the highest civilian award of Bangladesh. In February 2008, the government stopped production at the mill amidst rising price of sugar. North Bengal Sugar Mills suspended production in 2010 while facing mounting losses. It lost 120 million BDT that year while missing production target due to low yields. Workers of the mill went on strike demanding the mill implement the wages recommended by the
National Wages and Productivity Commission. The mill owns 22,729
hectares of farm land and 1.62 billion BDT in assets. By 2020, North Bengal Sugar Mills along with Natore Sugar Mills were the only state-owned sugars still in production. The mill purchased 48,000 tons of sugarcane in 2021 short of 71,000 ton target. The recovery rate/yield was below seven percent. Six sugar mills were closed across the country as they were struggling with similar issues.
Pabna Sugar Mill supplies sugarcane to North Bengal Sugar Mills. In January 2022, the managing director of North Bengal Sugar Mills, Md Humayun Kabi, stated productivity at the mill was down due to aging machinery due to which resulted in losses for the mill. ==References==