KTIS Sugar Production Hits 1,000 Million Kg. Increased Cane Output
KTIS has revealed that their cane and sugar output has outstripped the previous year, having produced over 10 million bags of sugar or an equivalent of one billion kilograms. In addition, its three biomass power plants, as well as its bagasse-based paper pulp mill are now operational.
Mr. Nathapun Siriviriyakul, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Kaset Thai International Sugar Corporation Plc. (KTIS), a leader in the sugar business and related industries, revealed that the data on the company’s cane crushing and sugar production of the 2017/18 production year up until now has shown that all three sugar mills of KTIS, namely Kaset Thai Sugar Mill, Ruamphol Sugar Mill, and Thai Identity Sugar Mill, have crushed a total of 10 million tons of cane, higher than the 8.7 million tons of the 2016/17 production year. In addition, the amount of sugar they have produced has also exceeded one billion kilograms or 10 million bags, compared to the 9.4 million bags of the previous year.
The increase in the volume of processed cane and produced sugar of the KTIS Group coincides with the prevalent trend of the industry, in which the total amount of cane output is expected to reach as much as 130 million tons.
“Accompanying this rise in cane output is the increase in bagasse and cane refuse fed to our three biomass power plant, which has enabled them to generate electricity for the longer period of time and boosted revenue from their sale of power. The paper pulp mill has also enjoyed a greater volume of bagasse and has been able to manufacture more bagasse-based paper and products. Therefore, the increase in cane output has benefited both the sugar industry itself and related industries,” said the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of KTIS.
This will mark the first year that KTIS will recognize revenue from selling electricity to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and the Provincial Electricity Authority by all three of its biomass power plants, namely Kaset Thai Biopower (KTBP) and Ruamphol Biopower (RPBP) in Nakhon Sawan and Thai Ekaluck Power (TEP) in Uttaradit.
Nathapun added that an increase in cane and sugar output normally bolsters the company’s revenue but is not always the case; it also depends on other relevant factors such as global sugar prices and currency exchange rates as over 70% of the sugar produced is exported.
“Thanks to the large volume of cane output, the cane crushing operation of some of the mills in the KTIS Group will last until May 2018 to admit as much cane from farmers as possible. After the operation is concluded, our mills should have processed no less than 11 million tons of cane combined,” stated Nathapun.