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Sugar output until April 15 in 2013-14 sugar season - 231.5 lakh tonne
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Friday, 18 April, 2014, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, New Delhi
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fiogf49gjkf0d As of April 15, 2014, about 231.5 lakh tonne sugar has been produced in the 2013-14 sugar season. This was about 10 lakh tonne less than the sugar produced upto the corresponding period last year (241.5 lakh tonne).
The Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) estimated that 238 lakh tonne sugar would be produced in the current season, which is 13 lakh tonne less than the 251 lakh tonne produced in the 2012-13 sugar season.
As compared to the 115 sugar mills operating on April 15 last year, about 200 sugar mills were still in operation on April 15, 2014.
This could be due to the late start of the current sugar season’s crushing. However, the 200 mills still operating are on the verge of stopping their crushing operations soon.
In Maharashtra, about 74.7 lakh tonne sugar was produced upto April 15, 2014. This is about six per cent lower vis-a-vis the 79.1 lakh tonne sugar produced upto April 15, 2013.
Compared to the 14 sugar mills operating at this time last year, there are 53 sugar mills still crushing sugarcane in Maharashtra.
About 3-3.5 lakh tonne sugar is expected to be produced by the sugar mills in the western state during the current sugar season.
The sugar mills in Maharashtra crushed 656 lakh tonne sugarcane upto April 15, 2014 at an average recovery of 11.4 per cent, which is slightly lower than the 695 lakh tonne sugarcane crushed upto the corresponding period last year. However, the recovery rate was the same as that in the current season.
Those in Uttar Pradesh produced 62.6 lakh tonne sugar, which was almost 10 lakh tons less than the 72.9 lakh tonne sugar produced during the corresponding period last year.
The mills have crushed 676 lakh tonne sugarcane till April 15, 2014 at an average sugar recovery of 9.26 per cent during the current season, vis-a-vis the 793 lakh tonne sugarcane crushed last year at an average recovery rate of 9.18 per cent.
The main reason for the lower sugar production in Uttar Pradesh this year was the fact that the sugar mills started crushing slightly late, because of the uncertainty on the sugarcane pricing, lower sugarcane yields and slightly higher diversion of sugarcane into gur manufacturing.
Compared to the 56 mills which were crushing sugarcane on April 15 last year, only 45 sugar mills were operating as on April 15, 2014.
Karnataka produced 40.5 lakh tonne sugar (the highest-ever sugar production in its history) on April 15, 2014.
The previous season, the state produced 33.5 lakh tonne, but it has shut its crushing operation down by now. Compared to that, 19 sugar mills continue to crush sugarcane this year.
Karnataka received better rainfall during both the south-west monsoon and from previous year’s retreating monsoon, which has resulted in higher yields and sugar recoveries.
Andhra Pradesh produced 9.8 lakh tonne sugar, which is the same as last year’s yield. Nine mills are crushing sugarcane, but may close soon.
Tamil Nadu produced 10.25 lakh tonne sugar, which is about 30 per cent less than last year’s yield.
It is expected that about 3.5 lakh tons of sugar would be produced in August-September 2014 (a special season).
During the first six months of the current season (between October 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014), the sugar mills have dispatched 125 lakh tonne sugar for sale in the domestic market, which is 10 lakh tonne more than the dispatches of 115 lakh tonne during the corresponding six-month period in the last sugar season.
The higher despatches are because of better lifting during the last few months, after the improvement in the market sentiments.
Upto March 31, 2014, about 15.4 lakh tonne raw sugar was produced by the sugar mills. Of this, 8.5 lakh tonne was dispatched for export as raw sugar.
It is estimated that India exported about 14.5 lakh tonne sugar, both as raw and white, in the first six months.
Of this above, about 3.50 lakh tonne sugar was exported in March 2014. This may be eligible for incentives announced by the government on February 28, 2014.
However, the government is yet to announce the incentive for raw sugar production and exports thereof, effective from April 1, 2014 for the months of April and May 2014, which, as per the February 28, 2014 notification, was supposed to be based on the dollar-rupee exchange rate prevailing in the week of March 2014.
Since the rupee had only appreciated, the market expects the government to announce the incentive rate at at least Rs 3,300 per tonne, if not more.
As per reports from the ports, between 3.5 and four lakh tonne sugar is expected to be physically shipped in the months of April and May 2014.
Some of these quantities has already been dispatched from the factory and would be in transit.
Some more raw sugar has been contracted for exports directly as well as through refineries, which are expected to be exported in April and May 2014 and thereafter.
Therefore, the incentive rate to be announced by the government is eagerly awaited by the exporters and the sugar mills.
The delay in announcement of incentive rate by the government is adversely impacting the physical shipments of sugar exports already contracted.
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