Following in the footsteps of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, sugar mills in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have stopped cane crushing in less than seven months of the current sugar season (October 2008-September 2009). The reason: lower production of sugarcane due to a fall in acreage, lower productivity and drop in sugar recovery.
In Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, most of the sugar mills have suspended their operations by March-end. However, the situation is a little better in Tamil Nadu, where the crushing season commenced about a month later.
Out of 54 mills that started crushing in Karnataka, 50 have already closed crushing, while in Andhra Pradesh, 35 out of 37 mills had commenced crushing and all of them have closed their operations for the season. As many as 38 mills started crushing in Tamil Nadu and till March-end, most of them were operational, according to industry sources.
Sugar production from the three southern states has touched close to 4 million tonnes till mid-April, about 38 per cent less than last year.
In the same period, mills in Karnataka have crushed around 15.4 million tonnes of sugarcane. They produced 1.67 million tonnes of sugar, a drop of 26.8 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year. Their sugar recovery rate was lower at 10.66 per cent as against 10.86 per cent last year.
With another four mills still operational in the state, it is expected that another 60,000 tonnes may be crushed and sugar production may go up to 1.7 million tonnes, a drop of 41 per cent compared to last year’s production of 2.9 million tonnes.
Till March-end, the availability of cane was 15.32 million tonnes compared to 20.46 million tonnes in the same period last year, a decline of around 25 per cent. “We may not exceed our initial target of producing 1.7 million tonnes of sugar for the current year,” the sources said.
Mills in Andhra Pradesh have produced 590,000 tonnes of sugar till February-end, a drop of 55.8 per cent compared to the same period last year. The availability of cane was around 5.9 million tonnes, a drop of 56 per cent compared to the last season. The recovery of sugar was marginally better at 9.88 per cent compared to 9.86 per cent last year.
In Tamil Nadu, till February-end, mills have produced 1.7 million tonnes of sugar, a decline of around 22 per cent compared to the same period last year. The availability of cane in the state is around 7.1 million tonnes compared to 9.23 million tonnes in the same period last year, a decline of around 23 per cent. The recovery of sugar was better at 9.70 per cent compared to 9.32 per cent last year. However, due to the late commencement of crushing, 35 out of 39 mills were still operational in the state, the sources said.
The Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), which held a review meeting to take stock of the sugar production for the current season in Mumbai early this week, has revised production estimates at 14.47 million tonnes for the current year, they said.
