Sugar production rises 8.3% to 146.86 lakh tonnes till 15 January in sugar season Oct 2018-Sept 2019
As is the practice, ISMA has procured the satellite images of cane area already harvested and remaining unharvested area in the fields, across the country during mid-season i.e. in the second week of January 2019. On the basis of these images of harvested and balance area, trend of yields and sugar recoveries achieved till now as also expected yield/sugar recovery in the balance period of the sugar season (SS), sugar production in the current season is estimated to be around 307 lakh tonnes, against the first advance estimates of 315 lakh tonnes released by ISMA in October 2018. This is after considering estimated diversion of 5 lakh tonnes of sugar into production of ethanol through 'B' heavy molasses.Till 15 January 2019, 510 sugar mills in the country have produced 146.86 lakh tonnes of sugar, compared with 135.57 lakh tonnes produced on the corresponding date of last year, i.e., current year's production is 8.32% ahead of last year's production. This is because the mills have started earlier this season, even though the whole year's sugar production will be less than last year.
As on 15 January 2019, 117 sugar mills in U.P. were operating and they crushed 382.1 lakh tonnes of sugarcane and produced 41.93 lakh tonnes of sugar.
Estimates based on satellite images procured in January 2019 as also considering the reduction in yield and increased sugar recovery % this year, mills in U.P. are expected to produce a total of 112.86 lakh tonnes in 2018-19 SS, against 120.45 lakh tonnes produced in 2017-18 SS.
In case of Maharashtra, 188 sugar mills which are operating as of now have produced 57.25 lakh tonnes of sugar till 15 January, 2019. This is 7 lakh tonnes higher than last year's production as on this date when 183 mills were in operation, as sugar mills in the current season started about 10-15 days earlier this season and are expected to close earlier.
As per second advance estimates of ISMA, Maharashtra is expected to produce 95 lakh tonnes in 2018-19 SS, which is same as the first advance estimates made by ISMA in September 2018. In 2017-18 SS, Maharashtra had however produced 107.23 lakh tonnes.
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The other major sugar producing State viz. Karnataka is expected to produce 42 lakh tonnes of sugar in 2018-19 SS, against 37.52 lakh tonnes produced in 2017-18 SS.
Till 15 January, 2019, Karnataka has produced 26.76 lakh tonnes of sugar with 65 sugar mills in operation. On the corresponding date of last season, sugar production in the State was 21.35 lakh tonnes.
As per the second advance estimates, the other States viz. Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh & Chattisgarh, Odisha and Uttarakhand are expected to produce 62 lakh tonnes, which is about 2.5 lakh tonnes more than last season's production from these States.
Sugar production as on 15 January 2019 in Tamil Nadu was 2 lakh tonnes, Gujarat was 5.30 lakh tonnes, Bihar 3.24 lakh tonnes, A.P & Telangana 3.10 lakh tonnes, Punjab 2.0 lakh tonnes, Haryana 2.20 lakh tonnes, Uttarakhand 1.35 lakh tonnes and M.P & Chattisgarh 1.65 lakh tonnes.
Considering the trend of sugar exports, it is expected that sugar mills could be able to export about 30-35 lakh tonnes of sugar in 2018-19 SS against the allocated MIEQ of 50 lakh tonnes, unless the export quota is backed up by the Government with some force or penalty for the sugar mills who are not exporting against their quotas.
Cane price arrears as on 31st December 2018 was around Rs 19,000 crore, including Rs 2800 crore of arrears of the previous season. This is substantially higher to the arrears last season as on 31st December 2017 of around Rs 10,600 crore.
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