Business Standard

Deccan Sugars plans to expand crushing capacity

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Ravi P Benjamin Kakinada
Samalkot-based Deccan Sugars Limited is all set to expand its crushing capacity from the present 3,300 tonnes per day to 4,000 tonnes per day. The Rs 500 crore Navabharath group of companies will eventually increase its crushing capacity to 5,000 tonnes per day in the next two to three years.
 
Deccan Sugars has fixed a target of 4.5 lakh tonnes of cane to be crushed in the 2005-06 season.The recovery will be 11.2 lakh tonnes by the end of the current fiscal.
 
"In 2004-05, we paid Rs 40.64 crore to the farmers for the cane at a price of Rs 1,016.20 per metric tonne," N Prabhakar Rao, general manager, Deccan Sugars Limited, told Business Standard.
 
The area under cane production in 2004-05 was 6,417 hectares and the total cane production was 4.78 lakh metric tonnes. The quantum of cane crushed was 4 lakh tonnes, sugar produced was 4.40 lakh quintals and the sugar recovery percentage was 10.98 per cent.
 
In 1992-93 fiscal, cane area was just 3,456 hectares and cane production was a mere 2.33 lakh metric tonnes. Cane crushing which was a mere 2.01 lakh metric tonnes in 1992-93 shot up to more than 4 lakh metric tonnes in 2004-05. The price paid to farmers was Rs 9 crore in 1992-93 while the same increased to a staggering Rs 40 crore in the just concluded financial year.
 
The company during the last 13 years saw a gradual upward swing on all fronts right from an increase in cane area, to cane production, crushing capacity, sugar production and recovery and profits despite odds like fall in cane prices, fluctuating market trends and government policies.
 
A series of economy measures, cost-cutting initiatives coupled with modernisation programme including several farmer and worker-friendly initiatives resulted in the company heading on a progressive track, Rao said.
 
"The state-administered cane price, excessive production and the cut-throat competition posed by too many players in the field, and the toughest challenge of facing the dreaded pest -- Woolly Aphid, were some of the challenges that we successfully tackled during the last decade-and-a-half to lead the company on the path of progress and profits," Rao maintained.
 
The company also went in for modernisation and upgraded its technology. "We have invested Rs 30 crore on modernisation. Besides, we have also taken up education programmes for the workers on a large scale to create awareness on the upgradation and the changing technology. Farmers are also educated about the steps to be taken for soil enrichment, increased yield and adoption of latest techniques," Rao said.
 
Prior to modernisation of the plant's machinery, the cane-crushing at the plant was only 2,500 tonnes per day. With the initiatives, the cane crushing increased to 3,200 metric tonnes per day.
 
The sugarcane crushing season is from November to April. As per the government directive, the farmers are paid for the sugarcane supplied within 15 days of supply.
 
"The company also owns a 60-acre sugarcane farm for research and development and to pass on the farming techniques to the farmers. It also has an enriched bio-compost yard which supplies the same to the farmers on a no-profit and no-loss basis," Rao said.
 
The company is encouraging the farmers to use natural manure instead of chemicals for soil enrichment. It exports sugar to Kolkata. "We are also planning to export our sugar to South-East countries including Thailand, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh soon," he said.

 
 

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First Published: Jul 15 2005 | 12:00 AM IST

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