According to the latest release by Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), sugar mills across the country have produced 342.37 lac tons of sugar between 1st October 2021 and 30th April 2022. This is about 42 lac tons higher than 300.29 lac tons produced at the same time last year. However, as compared to 106 sugar mills which were crushing sugarcane on 30th April 2021, 217 sugar mills were crushing sugarcane on 30th April 2022 this year.
In Maharashtra, sugar production till 30th April 2022 was 132.06 lac tons, compared with 105.63 lac tons produced last year same period, almost 26.4 lakh tons higher than last year. In the current 2021-22 SS, 76 mills have closed their crushing operations in the State and 123 sugar mills are still operating, as compared to which only 23 mills were operating last year on the corresponding date. The mills are currently facing the problem in harvesting and transportation of harvestable cane still available in the state. Accordingly, the State Government has announced assistance to enable mills to continue crushing till cane lasts.
U.P. sugar mills have produced 98.98 lac tons of sugar as on 30th April 2022, which is 6.64 lac tons lower than the production of 105.62 lac tons achieved by them last year on the corresponding date. Out of 120 mills operated this year, 78 mills have ended their crushing and 42 mills continue their operations this year, compared to 45 mills which were operating on 30th April’ 2021 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,2022.
Out of the 72 mills which operated in Karnataka, 70 have already closed their crushing operations for the main season, while only 2 mills are in operation and have produced 59.02 lac tons of sugar. However, few closed mills might operate in the special season commencing June / July’ 2022. During the corresponding period last year, all the operating 66 sugar mills had closed their operations and had produced 42.48 lac tons sugar. However, in the special season last year, 2.20 lakh tons of sugar was made.
Gujarat has produced 11.55 lac tons of sugar till 30th April 2022 with 10 sugar mills in operation. Last year, 10.15 lac tons of sugar had been produced with 5 mills in operation on the same date.
In case of Tamil Nadu, out of 29 sugar mills which operated this season, 5 sugar mills have ended their crushing so far, though some might operate in the special season later in the year. Till 30th April 2022, sugar production in the State was 8.40 lac tons, compared with 6.04 lac tons produced by 27 sugar mills on the corresponding date last year. Of the 27 sugar mills, 9 mills had ended their operations while 18 mills were in operation as on 30th April 2021, last year. In the special season last year, Tamil Nadu mills had made 2.16 lakh tons of sugar.
The remaining States of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Odisha have collectively produced 32.36 lac tons till 30th April, 2022.
Of the above States, Bihar, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Odisha have already closed their crushing operations for the current campaign.
As per reports from sugar mills and estimations made by ISMA, sugar sales by end of March 2022 have been estimated at 136.14 lac tons, as against 129.48 lac tons in the corresponding period last year, which is higher by 6.66 lac tons. Further, domestic sugar sales quota released by the Government upto May 2022 is also higher by 6.5 lac tons as against corresponding period last year. ISMA expects domestic sugar consumption in the current season to be at 272 lakh tons against 265.5 lac tons last year.
As per reports from the trade, around 82-83 lac tons of sugar export have been contracted for so far. Out of that, about 68 -70 lac tons of sugar is estimated to have been physically exported from India upto end of April, 2022 in the current sugar year, as compared to about 43.19 lac tons exported last year during the corresponding period. Accordingly, it is estimated that in the current season, Indian sugar industry should be able to export over 90 lac tons.
On the ethanol front, against the total LOI quantity of 425.17 crore ltrs, 410.32 crore ltrs have been contracted for and 168.66 Cr ltrs of ethanol have been supplied as on 24th April’ 2022. Out of the total supply so far, about 149.16 crore ltrs i.e. over 88% have been supplied by the sugar industry. The country, on an average, has achieved a blending percentage of 9.82% on the corresponding date.
