Amid Covid curbs, Indian sugar mills expect normal supply chains, exports

Lucknow / Apr 16, 2021

Even as the second wave of Covid-19 has forced the state governments to impose ‘night curfew’ and controlled lockdown to control the spread of infection, the sugar mills however expect only a minimal impact on the domestic supply chains and exports.

According to Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), although there are night curfew and lockdowns with limitations in some states this year, yet the “conditions are somewhat different, as restrictions are more organised and directives including standard operating procedures are already in place, due to which disruption in supply chain is expected to be minimal.”

The current sugarcane crushing season 2020-21 is already on the verge of culmination with the domestic output pegged at nearly 29 million tonnes (MT) till April 15, 2021. This is 4.26 MT higher than 24.82 MT produced in the corresponding period last year. As compared to 140 sugar mills that are still operating this year, the corresponding figure for last year was 170.

Citing market and port information, ISMA said 2.92 MT of sugar had been physically exported during October 2020–March 2021 period compared to 3.06 MT during the same period last sugar season (Oct-Sep) 2019-20.

However, the current year exports include 448,000 tonnes of sugar exported under Maximum Admissible Export Quota (MAEQ) of 2019-20 cycle, which was extended up to December 31, 2020.

“During the current year, an encouraging factor is that mills have physically exported more than 2.5 MT in the first three months after announcement of MAEQ export policy for 2020-21 in December 2020, including 1.2 MT in the month of March 2021 itself,” an ISMA release said.

This is 42 per cent of the 6 MT of export quota for the current year, ISMA claimed adding it is also reported that 800,000 tonnes of sugar is in pipeline for export in April 2021. In the current year, major export destinations are Indonesia and Afghanistan, accounting for almost 48 per cent of total shipments.

Meanwhile, total sales up to March 2021 stood at 12.95 MT against domestic sales quota of 12.5 MT fixed by the Centre.

During the same period last year, sugar sales were estimated at 13 MT against sales quota of 12.6 MT. Last year, post March 2020, sales got affected due to the countrywide lockdown and consequent closure of restaurants, malls, movie halls etc, which in turn impacted the demand for sugar sweetened products like ice cream, beverages, juices, confectionaries, sweets etc.

In Maharashtra, sugar production till April 15, 2021 stood at 10.4 MT compared to 6.7 MT last year. In the current 2020-21 season, reportedly 136 mills have closed their crushing operations while 54 units are operating currently.

In Uttar Pradesh, 120 sugar mills have produced 10 MT of sugar, while 54 of the total 120 mills have concluded their crushing operations. Together, UP and Maharashtra account for more than half of the country’s annual sugar output.

Meanwhile, mills in other sugarcane producing states such as Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Odisha also contributed to the domestic production.

Of the above states, Bihar, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Rajasthan and Odisha have already closed their crushing operations for the current campaign, while others except Haryana are on the verge of closure shortly.


(Virendra Singh Rawat is a Lucknow based journalist, who writes on contemporary issues of industry, economy, agriculture, infrastructure, budget etc)