According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) figures in its press release on Thursday, sugar mills across the country have produced 342.37 lakh tonnes (lt) of sugar up to April 30 in the 2021-22 sugar season, about 42 lt higher than the 300.29 lt produced at the same time last year. The sugar season (SS) runs from October to September.
As per reports from the trade, around 82-83 lt of sugar export have been contracted for so far, says ISMA. Out of that, about 68-70 lt of sugar is estimated to have been physically exported from India up to the end of April 2022 in the current sugar year, as compared to about 43.19 lt exported last year during the corresponding period. Accordingly, it is estimated that in the current season, the Indian sugar industry should be able to export over 90 lt.
In 2021 SS, a total of 72.3 lt of sugar had been exported. However, this was also a result of contribution from the government. No subsidy is being granted by the government this year.
According to the figures from ISMA, sugar production has gone up by 14 per cent in the October-April period as compared to last year. Of the 342.37 lt of sugar produced so far, Maharashtra is the largest contributor with a production of 132.06 lt. During the same period last year, it had produced 105.63 lt.
In the current 2021-22 SS, 76 mills have closed their crushing operations in the State and 123 sugar mills are still operating, compared to only 23 mills operating last year on the corresponding date. The mills are currently facing problems 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.
In Uttar Pradesh (UP), on the other hand, sugar production has declined. UP sugar mills have produced 98.98 lt of sugar, which is 6.64 lt lower than the production of 105.62 lt achieved by them last year up to April 30. It is learnt that most of the operating mills in the current season are expected to close by next fortnight.
Karnataka, the third-largest producer of sugar, has witnessed an increase in production. It has produced 59.02 lt of sugar this year as compared to 42.48 lt during the same period last year.
On the ethanol front, 410.32 crore litres has been contracted for and 168.66 crore litres of ethanol has been supplied by the sugar mills to the oil companies as of 24 April 2022.