 "UP sugar mill defaults on bank loans")
Plunging sugar prices have forced at least one sugar mill to default on bank loans and could drive others to do so, the latest sign of the heavy toll a four-year supply glut in the country is taking on producers.
One of the country's largest mills, Mawana Sugars, has defaulted on Rs 250 crore ($40 million) of loans from a group of lenders, according to an official from the company.
"We are losing Rs 5-6 a kg of sugar we produce. It is not viable to operate mills with the current pricing of sugar and cane," said Rajendra Khanna, a director at the company that posted a Rs 24-crore loss in the three months ending in June.
Squeezed margins in mills internationally, caused by depressed prices after years of global over-supply, are hastening closures and consolidation in the sector.
In India, millers face an even steeper challenge as the government in the main cane-growing state of Uttar Pradesh, has told mills to pay 280 rupees per 100 kg of cane, compared to the 210 rupees recommended by the central government as its so-called 'fair and remunerative price'.
Uttar Pradesh's government is yet to come out with a cane price for the 2014/15 marketing year that started on Oct. 1, but most mills in the state have decided to suspend cane crushing in the new season unless the state links cane prices to sugar prices.
Sugar prices have fallen nearly 13 percent in the last 12 months. The state-advised cane price has climbed 65 percent in five years, while the sugar price has risen by just 1 percent.
Abinash Verma, director general of national lobby group the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), said key lenders such as state-run banks had stopped providing fresh working capital to mills and had asked Uttar Pradesh's government to change its cane-pricing formula.
"Unless the state government rationalises its cane pricing formula, we will see more and more sugar mills falling into non-performing accounts," Verma said.
The leading 14 sugar companies' cash-to-short term debt ratio has dropped to the lowest in at least a decade at 6.7 percent, indicating companies don't have sufficient cash to meet debt obligations, according to Thomson Reuters data.
"Some mills don't have money to pay the salaries of employees. They will default in coming months. They don't have an option," said a senior official at a sugar mill in Uttar Pradesh. He declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak with media.
Major sugar producers such as Bajaj Hindusthan (BJHN.NS), Balrampur Chini Mills (BACH.NS), Shree Renuka Sugars (SRES.NS) and Simbhaoli Sugars (SIMB.NS) posted losses in the June quarter.
All leading Indian sugar companies have low Altman Z-Scores, which measure the likelihood that a firm will enter bankruptcy within the next two years, according to the latest data from Thomson Reuters Starmine.
One of the country's largest mills, Mawana Sugars, has defaulted on Rs 250 crore ($40 million) of loans from a group of lenders, according to an official from the company.
"We are losing Rs 5-6 a kg of sugar we produce. It is not viable to operate mills with the current pricing of sugar and cane," said Rajendra Khanna, a director at the company that posted a Rs 24-crore loss in the three months ending in June.
Also Read
"We have defaulted on a term loan due to the disparity in cane and sugar prices," Khanna told Reuters.
Squeezed margins in mills internationally, caused by depressed prices after years of global over-supply, are hastening closures and consolidation in the sector.
In India, millers face an even steeper challenge as the government in the main cane-growing state of Uttar Pradesh, has told mills to pay 280 rupees per 100 kg of cane, compared to the 210 rupees recommended by the central government as its so-called 'fair and remunerative price'.
Uttar Pradesh's government is yet to come out with a cane price for the 2014/15 marketing year that started on Oct. 1, but most mills in the state have decided to suspend cane crushing in the new season unless the state links cane prices to sugar prices.
Sugar prices have fallen nearly 13 percent in the last 12 months. The state-advised cane price has climbed 65 percent in five years, while the sugar price has risen by just 1 percent.
Abinash Verma, director general of national lobby group the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), said key lenders such as state-run banks had stopped providing fresh working capital to mills and had asked Uttar Pradesh's government to change its cane-pricing formula.
"Unless the state government rationalises its cane pricing formula, we will see more and more sugar mills falling into non-performing accounts," Verma said.
The leading 14 sugar companies' cash-to-short term debt ratio has dropped to the lowest in at least a decade at 6.7 percent, indicating companies don't have sufficient cash to meet debt obligations, according to Thomson Reuters data.
"Some mills don't have money to pay the salaries of employees. They will default in coming months. They don't have an option," said a senior official at a sugar mill in Uttar Pradesh. He declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak with media.
Major sugar producers such as Bajaj Hindusthan (BJHN.NS), Balrampur Chini Mills (BACH.NS), Shree Renuka Sugars (SRES.NS) and Simbhaoli Sugars (SIMB.NS) posted losses in the June quarter.
All leading Indian sugar companies have low Altman Z-Scores, which measure the likelihood that a firm will enter bankruptcy within the next two years, according to the latest data from Thomson Reuters Starmine.