KTIS Releases 2023 Sees Gradual Income Increasing with High-Quality Cane for ‘All Business Line’ Growth
Mr. Somchai Suvajittanont, Chief Executive Office of Sugar Business and Assistant Chief Executive Officer of Kaset Thai International Sugar Corporation Public Company Limited (KATIS), a leader in the sugar industry and integrated related industries of Thailand, reported that, the information gathered by the company regarding sugar cane products in the harvest season of 2022/2023 indicated that more than 6.2 million tons of sugar cane had been crushed in the 3 factories and more than 7 million sacks of sugar were produced. The number is higher than that of 2021/2022 when 6.2 million tons of sugar cane were obtained for 6.4 million sacks of sugar.
This is because the quality of sugar cane and the efficiency of sugar production are higher. The average sweetness value of sugar cane this year was 13 C.C.S., which is higher than the one of last year: 12.1 C.C.S. It is expected that after he harvesting, 10-15% more sugar cane will be gained than last year. The company is also confident that this year’s performance is definitely better than last year thanks to various factors supporting both volume and prices in every production line, including sugar, ethanol, paper pulp, electricity, as well as a project to produce packaging based on 100% pure bagasse pulp.
“What is more satisfying than the increasing amount of sugar cane is the quality of sugarcane which is much better. This year’s average sweetness is as high as 13 C.C.S., while last year’s was only 12.1 C.C.S., resulting the sugar product per a ton of cane (yield) which is as high as 112.1 kgs. Per ton of sugar cane. In other words, sugar cane of 6.2 million tons, the same number as last year, were able to produce 7 million sacks of sugar, compared to the number of last year: 6.4 million sacks,” explained Mr. Somchai.
The KATIS’s CEO added that increasing amount of sugar cane was derived from more rain than the previous year and effective water management, apart from the climate conducive to the quality growth of sugar cane. It is expected that the sugar mill would be available until the end of March 2023, which will yield sugar cane and sugar product up to 10-15%, the number which is higher than last year.
The increase in sugarcane volume in this production year will be beneficial to all business lines because of more molasses to produce more ethanol, and bagasse for biomass power plants and paper pulp factories. Additionally, prices of sugar, electricity, ethanol and paper pulp are higher than last year. Therefore, this year’s performance of the KTIS group will definitely be better than previous ones’.
Mr. Somchai concluded that, in this year, the company would begin to realize the income from its environmentally-friendly packaging production based on 100% pure bagasse pulp with a production capacity of up to 50 tons per day or approximately 3 million pieces per day. The company has 50 machines for the production to the market in various forms, such as plates, bowls, boxes, trays, etc. Additional income will belong to the Nakhon Sawan Bio Complex (NBC) Phase 1 project operated by GGC KTIS Bio Industrial Co., Ltd. or GKBI, a joint venture between the KTIS group and the PTT group, which has a production capacity of 600,000 liters of ethanol from sugar cane juice per day and a power plant with a total installed capacity of 85 megawatts and 520 tons of steam. The electricity sales contract accounts for at least 30 megawatts.
