PRESS RELEASE: SUGAR PRODUCTION UPTO 30TH APRIL, 2015
· Sugar mills in the country have produced 273.74 lac tons of sugar in 2014-15 SS till 30th April, 2015. This is 34.31 lac tons more than what they produced during the same period in the last 2013-14 SS.
· One of the reasons for high sugar production is that the yield per hectare has increased in the States of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. In Uttar Pradesh, the average recovery has increased from 9.29% in 2013-14 SS to 9.54% in 2014-15 SS till 30th April, 2015.
· 130 sugar mills out of 532 sugar mills, which started operation this year are still working and sugar mills in the State of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka will crush sugarcane in the latter part of the season i.e. between July and September and they will produce approximately 3 to 3.5 lac tons. Therefore, sugar production in the current sugar season may be around 278 to 280 lac tons.
· The leading sugar producer of the country viz. Maharashtra achieved an all-time high record production of sugar at 103.50 lac tons till 30th April, 2015. About 40 sugar mills are still crushing sugarcane. During 2013-14 SS, sugar mills of Maharashtra produced 77.14 lac tons of sugar till 30th April 2014, with 14 sugar mills in operation.
· Uttar Pradesh mills have produced 70.15 lac tons of sugar upto 30th April 2015, as against 65.08 lac tons produced during the same period last season. There are 18 sugar mills still operating. During 2013-14 SS as on 30th April, 9 sugar mills were under operations.
· The third largest producer of sugar viz. Karnataka have produced 47 lac tons of sugar till 30th April 2015, as against 41.19 lac tons produced during the corresponding period in 2013-14 SS. 25 sugar mills are still crushing sugarcane for 2014-15 SS, as against only 2 sugar mills which were in operation on 30th April 2014.
· Sugar mills of Tamil Nadu have produced 9 lac tons of sugar till 30th April, 2015, which is 2.02 lac tons less than the sugar production of last year on the corresponding date. However, sugar mills working in 2014-15 SS as on 30th April 2015 is higher than the last year when 30 mills are still working now. Last year, as on 30th April 2014, only 22 sugar mills were operational.
· Gujarat has produced 11.35 lac tons of sugar with 3 sugar mills in operation. In 2013-14 SS, all sugar mills which were in operation wrapped up their operations by 30th April 2014 and produced 11.75 lac tons. It is expected that sugar production in 2014-15 SS may be little less than last season.
· All sugar mills of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have completed their crushing and produced 8.80 lac tons of sugar till 30th April 2015. Last year, these mills produced 10.01 lac tons as on 30th April 2014 and there were 3 mills in operation as on 30th April.
· Sugar mills of viz. Uttarakhand, Bihar, Punjab have produced 3.25 lac tons, 5.23 lac tons and 5.25 lac tons till 30th April 2015 respectively and ended their operations for the current 2014-15 SS. In 2013-14 SS, mills of these States produced 2.88 lac tons, 5.91 lac tons and 4.69 lac tons during the entire season.
· Upto 30th April, 2015, sugar mills of Madhya Pradesh have produced 4 lac tons of sugar as against 3.64 lac tons produced in 2013-14 SS till 30th April. 12 sugar mills are working as on 30th April, as against 10 during the last season on the corresponding date.
· With an anticipated high sugar production of about 280 lac tons, the closing stock of sugar at the end of the season is expected to be 95 lac tons, which is 35 lac tons more than the normative requirement of Government to meet the domestic consumption of sugar in the initial months of next sugar season.
· Surplus sugar of 35 lac tons within the country and glut in the global market have depressed sugar prices both in the global and domestic market and as such, sugar mills are finding it difficult to dispose off their sugar both in domestic as well as global market.
· So far, 1.94 lac tons of raw sugar and 1.63 lac tons of white sugar have been exported. Despite announcement of export incentive on raw sugar, sugar mills could export only about 1.5 lac tons sugar in two months under the export incentive scheme.
· ISMA President Mr. Vellayan, welcomed the recent Government decision to help the industry. He added that the hike in import duty to 40% and removal of excise duty on ethanol, these steps are not helpful in improving the depressed domestic prices in the short run and will also not improve the paying capacity to help them clear the cane price arrears of Rs. 21,000 crore of the farmers. Mr. Vellayan suggested that the Government should immediately purchase at least 30 lac tons of sugar from the industry, which will give instant funds of about Rs. 8000 crore to the industry, which in turn, can be used for payments of farmers, and improve the massively depressed sugar prices.