Now, flavoured sugar to hit market soon

The sugar industry is all set to usher in a flavour revolution. After calorie-free sugar cubes, producers are now planning to come up with a number of flavours, having hygiene value, to suit the tastes and needs of various consumer types and classes.

Leading from the front is Simbhaoli Sugar Mills (SSML), the New Delhi-based largest domestic integrated sugar refinery, which is going to produce sugar with different flavours "� lemon flavour to begin with "� soon.

"The company has already started research to ascertain how much potential such speciality sugar has at home and abroad. The report is expected in the next 24 weeks," Dr GSC Rao, executive director, SSML, said on the sidelines of a press meet in the metro.

Simbhaoli Sugar enjoys an elite customer base in speciality sugar that includes segments like institutions and pharma companies, among others.

The company is planning to introduce more such concepts on an experimental basis, after the report on speciality sugar "� one of very attractive segments in today's health-conscious time "� comes out.

Of the country's total output, SSML produces about 5 per cent of candy sugar and 9 per cent of pharma sugar. Looking at the huge potential of pharma sugar, the company plans to double production to 18 per cent. "Our packed sugar under the brand name 'Trust' attracts a premium of Rs 3-4 a kg in the market," Rao said.

The company reported 10.94 per cent growth in net revenue at Rs 438.59 crore in the financial year ended March 31, 2006 against Rs 395.33 crore in the previous financial year. Its net profit during the same year zoomed 149.69 per cent to Rs 29.60 crore from Rs 11.85 crore. In the fourth quarter of 2005-06, the company recorded a net profit of Rs 6.02 crore on a turnover of Rs 114.60 crore.

In the last crushing season, Simbhaoli Sugar crushed 14.8 lakh tonne of sugarcane. It announced that it would expand the crushing capacity to 20100 tcd by November 2006. The company will achieve this by setting up a new facility "� to be the least energy-consuming facility in the country "� at Brijnathpur with capacity of 4,000 tcd. The company is also doubling its current ethanol output from 18 million litres a year to 36 million litres a year by setting up two new 60 kl/d ethanol plants "� one adjacent to its Chilwaria sugar unit and other at Brijnathpur. While production at Chilwaria will start in July 2006, the Brijnathpur unit will start to produce in November 2006.

The company has already bagged an order to supply 6 million litres-a-year ethanol to oil majors in Uttar Pradesh. It is also in negotiations for supply of ethanol to Haryana to the tune of 5 million litres a year.