Sugar Production Up 31% to 142.70 Lakh Tonne

Sugar production rose nearly 31 per cent to 142.70 lakh tonne in the three and a half months of the current sugar season (SS) 2020-21 (October-September) as compared to the last year as per the data released by the apex industry body, Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA).

As per the industry body, 487 sugar mills in operation across the country as on January 15, 2021 have produced 142.70 lakh tonne of sugar, as compared to 108.94 lakh tonne produced by 440 sugar mills as on January 15, 2020. This is higher by 33.76 lakh tonnes or 30.98 per cent from last season's production for the corresponding period.

In Uttar Pradesh, 120 sugar mills have produced 42.99 lakh tonnes in the three and a half months of the season while 119 sugar mills in operation during the same period last year had produced 43.78 lakh tonne of sugar. The slightly lower production this year is because of reportedly lower cane yields and lower sugar recoveries in the state, said ISMA.

In Maharashtra, 181 sugar mills in operation have produced 51.55 lakh tonne till January 15, 2021, as against 139 sugar mills which had produced 25.51 lakh tonne last year up to the same period. This is 26.04 lakh tonne higher as compared to last season's production for the corresponding period.

In Karnataka, 66 sugar mills have produced 29.80 lakh tonne of sugar, as compared to 21.90 lakh tonne produced by 63 sugar mills in the 2019-20 sugar season on January 15, 2020.

In Gujarat, 15 sugar mills are operating for the 2020-21 SS and they have produced 4.40 lakh tonne of sugar till January 15, 2021. In 2019-20 SS, a similar number of sugar mills were in operation on January 15, 2020, who had produced 3.72 lakh tonne of sugar till that date.

In Tamil Nadu, 20 sugar mills have produced about 1.15 lakh tonne of sugar as against 1.57 lakh tonne produced last year on the corresponding date.

The remaining states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Odisha have collectively produced 12.81 lakh tonne of sugar till January 15.

For the year 2020-21, Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have allocated about 309.81 crore litre, including about 39.36 crore litre from damaged foodgrains and surplus rice. This would mean a blend of about 7-8 per cent, depending on the total fuel demand, said the industry body.

However, some states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand have already achieved a blending percentage of 9-10 as on January 11.

The allocated quantity of ethanol indicates about 20 lakh tonne of estimated net lower sugar production during 2020-21 SS due to diversion of B heavy molasses and sugarcane juice away from ethanol and into sugar production.

The major contributions (about 93 per cent) are from the major sugar producing states viz. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. This is as estimated by ISMA in its first advance estimates of sugar production released in October 2020.

As is the practice, ISMA has procured the satellite images in January 2021. Based on the images of the cane area remaining to be harvested, trend of recovery, yield and drawal percentage of sugarcane achieved so far, ISMA will come out with its second advance estimates of sugar production for 2020-21 SS, if required, by the end of January.

As per market reports, about three lakh tonne of sugar has been exported during the period October to December 2020, which is against the MAEQ of 2019-20 SS which was extended up to December 31, 2020.