India Sugar Mills Supply 51 Crore Litres of Ethanol Made from Molasses
Industry body Indian Sugar Mills NSE 2.56 % Association has claimed that for the first time in the history of Indian sugar industry, sugar mills have offered to supply around 51 crore ltr of ethanol produced from B heavy molasses and sugarcane juice, which will help reduce sugar production.
“Till the end of February, in the first three months of current year’s supply period, about 12 crore litre of ethanol made from B heavy/sugarcane juice has been supplied. This has in turn reduced about 1 lakh tonnes of sugar production in the current season so far,” said ISMA in a release.
The year-on-year all India sugar production till February is up by 6.8%, said ISMA.
The release said: “As on February 28, 2019, 466 sugar mills in the country are in operation and have produced 247.68 lakh tonnes of sugar, as compared to 231.77 lakh tonnes produced by 457 mills on the corresponding date last year. Mills have started closing in Maharashtra and Karnataka.”
In Maharashtra, sugar production till 28th February 2019 was 92.10 lakh tonnes, compared with 84.54 lakh tonnes produced last year same period. In the current 2018-19 SS, 23 mills have closed their crushing operations in the State while 170 sugar mills are operating. On the corresponding date in last season 18 mills had closed their operations while 169 mills were in operation.
In U.P., 117 sugar mills are in operation and they have produced 73.20 lakh tonnes of sugar till 28th February 2019, compared with 73.61 lakh tonnes produced by similar number of mills on the corresponding date of last year.
In case of Karnataka, till 28th February, 2019, mills have produced 41.69 lakh tonnes of sugar. 32 mills have closed their operations in the State while 35 mills are in operation. During the corresponding period last year, they had produced 33.92 lakh tonnes sugar while 38 mills were in operation and 27 mills had closed their operations.
In case of Tamil Nadu, 32 sugar mills are in operation and have produced 4.70 lakh tonnes of sugar, as compared to 3.58 lakh tonnes produced by 26 sugar mills in 2017-18 SS on the corresponding date.
As on February 22, 2019, all India cane price arrears reported by Government of India in a press release was Rs. 20,159 crore. “However, with the Government deciding to give soft loans of over Rs. 10,000 crore and increasing the minimum ex – mill price to Rs. 31 per kilo, the arrears may get reduced faster. But a very high monthly sugar sale quota fixed for March, 2019, has reduced the sugar prices by over Rs. 100 per quintal, which will adversely impact the millers and negate some of the good steps taken by the Government recently,” said ISMA.
