283.26 lt of sugar has been produced till 15 March 2022, higher by 23.89 lt from the 259.37 lt produced last year by the same date. This was stated in an Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) press release on March 17.
During the 2021-22 sugar season (SS), 516 sugar mills started their crushing operations against 503 mills that operated last year, i.e., 13 more mills operated this year.
As of 15th March, 81 mills have stopped crushing and 435 sugar mills in the country were still crushing. As compared to that, 172 mills had stopped operations last year as of 15th March and 331 mills were operating.
In Maharashtra, sugar production till 15th March was 108.95 lt, compared with 94.05 lt produced last year in the same period. In the current 2021-22 SS, 13 mills have closed their crushing operations in the State, most of them in the Kolhapur region, and the remaining 184 sugar mills are operating.
In UP, 120 sugar mills, which were in operation, have produced 78.33 lt of sugar till 15th March. Out of these, 16 sugar mills have stopped crushing operations, most of them located in Eastern UP. A similar number of mills operated last year in the State and had produced 84.25 lt as of 15 March 2021.
In the case of Karnataka, till 15 March 2022, 72 sugar mills have produced 54.65 lt of sugar. Out of the 72 sugar mills, 24 mills have closed their operations. During the corresponding period last year, 66 sugar mills had produced 41.95 lt sugar.
On the ethanol front, against the total LOI quantity of 416.33 crore litres, 113.17 crore litres of ethanol has been supplied as of 13 March 2022. Out of the total supply so far, about 86% consists of ethanol made from sugarcane juice / B-heavy molasses. The country on average has achieved a blending percentage of 9.45 per cent till mid-March since December 2021.
As per reports from the trade, around 64-65 lt of sugar export has been contracted for so far. Out of this, about 47 lt of sugar has been physically exported from India up to the end of February 2022 in the current sugar year, as compared to about 17.75 lt exported last year during the corresponding period.
Further, considering the pipeline, it is expected that physical exports by the end of this month may be around 55-56 lt. Accordingly, it is estimated that in the current season, the Indian sugar industry should be able to export 75 lt, which will be a record achievement once again.
Considering estimated domestic consumption of 272 lt and production of 333 lt, the export of 75 lt will help reduce the closing stocks of sugar at 68 lt on 30 September 2022. This will be 77 lt lower than the stocks of 145 lt Indian sugar industry had three years back on 30 September 2019.