Sugar mills across the country have produced 329.91 lac tons of sugar till 15th April 2022. This is 38.09 lac tons higher than 291.82 lac tons produced at the same time last year. As compared to 170 sugar mills that were crushing sugarcane on 15th April 2021 last year, 305 sugar mills were crushing sugarcane on 15th April 2022 this year.
In Maharashtra, sugar production till 15th April 2022 was 126.48 lac tons, compared with 103.95 lac tons produced last year same period, almost 22.53 lakh tons higher than last year. In the current 2021-22 SS, reportedly 45 mills have closed their crushing operations in the State and 153 sugar mills are operating currently. On the corresponding date in last season, only 54 mills were in operation in the State, who went on to add another about 2.55 lakh tons of sugar production last year.
In U.P., 120 sugar mills which were in operation, have produced 94.41 lac tons of sugar till 15th April 2022. Out of 120 sugar mills, 52 sugar mills have stopped crushing operations. Similar number of mills operated last year in the State and had produced 100.86 lac tons as on 15th April 2021. 54 mills had closed their crushing operations in the state on the corresponding date last year.
In case of Karnataka, till 15th April, 2022, 72 sugar mills have produced 59 lac tons of sugar. Currently 7 mills are still operating in the State. During the corresponding period last year, all the operating 66 sugar mills had closed their operations for the main season and had produced 42.48 lac tons sugar. However, in the special season (June – September) last year, mills therein had produced another 2.20 lac tons of sugar.
In case of Tamil Nadu, out of 28 sugar mills which operated this season, 1 sugar mill has ended its crushing so far, though it might operate in the special season later in the year. Till 15th April 2022, sugar production in the State was 7.90 lac tons, compared with 5.56 lac tons produced on the corresponding date last year. Of the 27 sugar mills which operated last year, 5 mills had ended their operations and 22 mills were in operation as on 15th April 2021.
Gujarat has produced 10.77 lac tons of sugar till 15th April 2022 with 14 sugar mills in operation, while one mill has closed for this season. Last year, 9.50 lac tons of sugar was produced with 6 mills in operation on the same date.
The remaining States as Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Odisha have collectively produced 31.35 lac tons till 15th April, 2022.
Of the above States, Bihar, Rajasthan and Odisha have already closed their crushing operations for the current campaign. Among other states, 13 mills in Punjab, 1 mill in Haryana, 2 mills in Uttarakhand, 12 mills in M.P, 2 mills in Chhattisgarh, 2 mills in A.P. and 6 mills in Telangana have closed their operations.
As per market reports and port information, around 80 lac tons of sugar export have been contracted so far. Out of that about 57.17 lac tons of sugar have been physically exported out of the country during October,2021 – March,2022 period, as compared to about 31.85 lac tons exported in the last sugar year during the same period. It is also reported that about 7 – 8 lac tons of sugar is in pipeline for export in April,2022.
In the current year, major export destinations are Indonesia and Bangladesh, accounting for almost 44% of total exports, as against 48% shared collectively by Indonesia and Afghanistan last year during the corresponding period.
ISMA, in its last Committee meeting had revised its production estimate to 350 lac tons. In the case of Maharashtra, the estimates were revised to 134 lac tons and in case of Karnataka to 62 lac tons. ISMA also revised its export estimates to over 90 lac tons for the season. Considering the above and domestic consumption of 272 lac tons, there will be a closing balance of 68 lac tons at the end of the sugar season on 30th September, 2022.
