Physical sugar exports by the end of this months are likely to be around 55-56 lakh tonnes and total exports from the country could be a record high of 75 lakh tonnes this season (October 2021-September 2022), the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) has said.
Considering the 272 lakh tonnes of domestic consumption estimates and production of 333 lakh tonnes, exports of 75 lakh tonnes will help reduce the closing stock of sugar to 68 lakh tonnes by September 30, 2022. This will be 77 lakh tonnes lower than 145 lakh tonnes the industry carried on September 30, 2019.
Crushing operations
About 81 mills across the country have stopped crushing and 435 sugar mills continue their operations. Mills have produced 283.26 lakh tonnes of sugar against 259.37 lakh tonnes during the October 1-March 15 period of the 2020-21 season, said ISMA in a statement on Thursday.
Mills in Maharashtra reported sugar production of 108.95 lakh tonnes compared with 94.05 lakh tonnes produced in the year ago period. During the current 2021-22 season, 13 mills have ended their crushing operations in the State, most of them in the Kolhapur region.
In Uttar Pradesh, 120 sugar mills that were in operation have produced 78.33 lakh tonnes of sugar. Out of 120 sugar mills, 16 sugar mills have stopped crushing operations, most of them located eastern UP.
In Karnataka, 72 sugar mills have produced 54.65 lakh tonnes of sugar. Out of the 72 sugar mills, 24 mills have closed their operations in the State.
In Gujarat 15 mills are currently in operation and have produced 9.15 lakh tonnes of sugar.
In Tamil Nadu, 26 sugar mills commenced their crushing operations for 2021-22 and have produced 5.75 lakh tonnes of sugar, as compared to 4.16 lakh tonnes in 2020-21.
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Odisha have collectively produced 26.43 lakh tonnes of sugar till date.
Ethanol production
On the ethanol front, against the total letter of intent (LOI) quantity of 416.33 crore litres, 113.17 crore litres of ethanol have been supplied as of March 13, 2022.
Out of the total ethanol supplied so far, some 86 per cent comprises of ethanol made from sugarcane juice / B heavy molasses. The contracted quantity as on date is 391.85 crore litres as against LOIs of about 416 crore litres issued by OMCs. “The country on an average has achieved a blending percentage of 9.45 per cent till mid-March since December 2021” ISMA stated.