New Delhi: According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), during 2021-22 Sugar Season, 518 sugar mills started their crushing operations as against 505 mills which operated last year i.e., 13 more mills operated this year.
309.87 lakh tonnes of sugar have been produced till 31st March 2022 as against 278.71 lakh tonnes produced last year by 31st March 2021 i.e. higher by 31.16 lakh tonnes.
As on 31st March 2022, 152 mills have stopped crushing and 366 sugar mills in the country were still crushing. As compared to that, 284 mills had stopped operations last year as on 31st March 2021 and 221 mills were operating then.
In Maharashtra, sugar production till 31st March’ 2022 was 118.81 lakh tonnes, compared with 100.47 lakh tonnes produced last year same period. In the current 2021-22 SS, 30 mills have closed their crushing operations in the State, most of them in Kolhapur region and a few in Solapur region, and remaining 167 sugar mills are still operating. Mills therein have so far crushed about 1143 lakh tonnes of sugarcane, which is highest ever in the history of the State surpassing about 1014 lakh tonnes cane crushed in the complete 2020-21 season. On the corresponding date in last season, 114 mills had closed their operations while 76 mills were in operation.
In U.P., 120 sugar mills which were in operation, have produced 87.50 lakh tonnes of sugar till 31st March 2022. Out of 120 sugar mills, 32 sugar mills have stopped crushing operations, most of them located in Eastern U.P. Similar number of mills operated last year in the State and had produced 93.71 lakh tonnes as on 31st March 2021. 39 mills had closed their crushing operations on the corresponding date last year.
In case of Karnataka, till 31st March, 2022, 72 sugar mills have produced 57.65 lakh tonnes of sugar. Similar to Maharashtra, this is by far the highest ever sugar production in the State. Out of the 72 sugar mills, 51 mills have closed their operations in the State and 21 mills are still operating in the State. During the corresponding period last year, 66 sugar mills had produced 42.38 lakh tonnes sugar. Of the 66 sugar mills, 65 had ended their operations and only 1 mill was in operation as on 31st March 2021, last year.
In Gujarat, 15 mills are currently in operation and have produced 10 lakh tonnes of sugar till 31st March, 2022. Last year, similar number of sugar mills operated while 5 mills had closed their operations on the corresponding date and had produced 9.15 lakh tonnes of sugar till 31st March, 2021.
In case of Tamil Nadu, 28 sugar mills commenced their crushing operations for 2021-22 SS and have produced 6.87 lakh tonnes of sugar, as compared to 5.08 lakh tonnes produced by 26 sugar mills in 2020-21 SS on the corresponding date i.e. 31st March,2021.
The remaining States of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Odisha have collectively produced 29.04 lakh tonnes of sugar till 31st March, 2022.
Of the above States, Bihar and Rajasthan have already closed their crushing operations for the current campaign. Among other states, 2 mills in A.P., 6 mills in Telangana, 9 mills in Punjab, 1 mill in Uttarakhand, 9 mills in M.P., 1 mill in Chhattisgarh and 1 mill in Odisha have ended their crushing operations so far in the current season.
On the ethanol front, against the total LOI quantity of 416.33 Crore ltrs, 131.69 Cr ltrs of ethanol have been supplied as on 27th March’ 2022. Contracted quantity as on date is of 402.66 Cr. ltrs as against LOIs of about 416 crore ltrs issued by OMCs. The Country on an average has achieved a blending percentage of 9.60% till end of March since December, 2021.
As per reports from the trade, over 72 lakh tonnes of sugar export have been contracted so far. Out of that, physical exports by the end of March, 2022 are expected to be around 56 – 57 lakh tonnes. News from the international trade houses indicate that global market is expecting 85 lakh tonnes of sugar exports from India, in the current season.
