According to Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), sugar mills across the country have produced 299.15 lac tons of sugar between 1st October 2020 and 30th April 2021. This is about 41 lac tons higher than 258.09 lac tons produced at the same time last year. However, as compared to 112 sugar mills which were crushing sugarcane on 30th April 2020, 106 sugar mills are crushing sugarcane on 30th April 2021 this year.
In Maharashtra, sugar production till 30th April 2021 was 105.63 lac tons, compared with 60.95 lac tons produced last year same period, almost 44.68 lakh tons higher than last year. In the current 2020-21 SS, 167 mills have closed their crushing operations in the State and 23 sugar mills are still operating, as compared to which only 3 mills were operating last year on the corresponding date. Reportedly, most of the operating mills in the current season are expected to close in next 15 – 20 days.
U.P. sugar mills have produced 105.62 lac tons of sugar as on 30 th April 2021, which is 10.90 lac tons lower than the production of 116.52 lac tons achieved by them last year on the corresponding date. Out of 120 mills operated this year, 75 mills have ended their crushing and 45 mills continue their operations this year, compared to 75 mills which were operating on 30th April’ 2020 last year. It is learnt that most of the operating mills in the current season are expected to close by next fortnight, however, some of them may continue till end of May,2021.
All the 66 operating sugar mills in Karnataka had already closed their crushing operations by the 1st week of April,2021 and had produced 41.67 lac tons of sugar. However, few mills might operate in the special season commencing July’ 2021. During the corresponding period last year, similar to this year, all the operating sugar mills had closed their operations and had produced 33.82 lac tons sugar. However, in the special season last year, 1.12 lakh tons of sugar was made.
Gujarat has produced 10.15 lac tons of sugar till 30th April 2021 with 5 sugar mills in operation. Last year, 9.02 lac tons of sugar had been produced with 1 mill in operation on the same date. In case of Tamil Nadu, out of 27 sugar mills which operated this season, 9 sugar mills have ended their crushing so far, though some might operate in the special season later in the year. Till 30th April 2021, sugar production in the State was 6.04 lac tons, compared with 5.45 lac tons produced by 24 sugar mills on the corresponding date last year. Of the 24 sugar mills, similar number of mills had ended their operations while 15 mills were in operation as on 30th April 2020, last
year. In the special season last year, Tamil Nadu mills had made 2.0 lakh tons of sugar.
The remaining States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Odisha have collectively produced 30.04 lac tons till 30th April, 2021. Of the above States, Bihar, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Rajasthan and Odisha have already closed their crushing operations for the current campaign. In the States of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand, only one mill each are operating currently in the respective States and are expected to close shortly. While in case of Haryana, 2 mills have closed so far and the remaining 12 mills are expected to close by next fortnight.
To support the export program, Government had allowed the swap between MAEQ and domestic sales quota for the current 2020-21 SS, which received positive response from the millers. So far, about 10.5 lac tons of reallocations have already been done by the Government. Additionally, DFPD has also reallocated about one lakh tons of sugar as per mill-wise export performance and contracts signed by mills up to March, 2021 end.
As per reports market reports, about 54-55 lac tons of contracts for export of sugar have already been entered into so far. This is more than 90% of the total MAEQ quantity for 2020-21 SS. Out of this, about 25.24 lac tons of sugar have been physically exported out of the country during Jan. 2021 and Mar. 2021, i.e. under the MAEQ export program for 2020-21 SS which was announced on 31st December, 2020. Another around 10 lakh tons are estimated to have been shipped out in April 2021, taking the total exported quantity to over 35 lakh tons upto end of April, 2021. As per market reports, another 8-10 lakh tons of sugar is expected to be physically exported in May 2021.
On the ethanol front, against the total LOI quantity of 325.93 crore liters, 302.53 crore liters have been contracted for and 117.72 Cr liters of ethanol have been supplied as on 19th April’ 2021. Out of the total supply so far, about 77% comprises of ethanol made from sugarcane juice /B-heavy molasses. The country, on an average, has achieved a blending percentage of 7.36%, while 11 major States like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat and Himanchal Pradesh have achieved even higher blending percentage of up to 10%.
