Sugar mills across the country produced 342.37 lakh tonnes (lt) of sugar between October 1, 2021, and April 30, 2022. This is approximately 42 lakh tonnes, or 14% more than the 300.29 lt produced during the same period last season (October 2020-September 2021).
According to the India Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), the sugar industry should be able to export more than 90 lt during the current season. ISMA stated in a statement that, compared to 106 sugar mills crushing sugarcane in April 2021, approximately 217 mills crushed the cane in April this year.
Sugar production in Maharashtra was 132.06 lt until April 30, 2022, up from 105.63 lt the previous year, a nearly 26.4 lt increase.
In the current sugar season, 76 mills in the state have closed their crushing operations, while 123 remain in operation, compared to the 23 mills that operated last year during the same period.
"The mills are currently experiencing difficulties in harvesting and transporting harvestable cane that is still available in the state." As a result, the State government has announced assistance to mills to allow them to continue crushing until the cane runs out," ISMA stated in a press release.
As of April 30, 2022, Uttar Pradesh sugar mills had produced 98.98 lt of sugar, a 6.64 lt decrease from the previous year's output of 105.62 lt on the same date. This year, 78 of the 120 mills that were operational this year have stopped crushing, while 42 mills continue to operate against 45 mills that were operating on April 30, 2021.
70 out of the 72 mills in Karnataka have already closed their crushing operations for the main season, with only two remaining. The state produced 59.02 metric tonnes of sugar. However, a few closed mills may reopen during the special season, which runs from June to July. During the same time period last year, all 66 sugar mills were closed and 42.48 lt of sugar was produced. However, 2.20 lt of sugar was produced during the special season last year.
Gujarat produced 11.55 lt of sugar between April 1 and April 30 with ten sugar mills in operation. Last year's output was 10.15 lt, with five mills operating on the same day.
In Tamil Nadu, five of the 29 sugar mills that were operational this season have ceased operations. Sugar production in the state was 8.40 lt until April 30, 2022, compared to 6.04 lt produced by 27 sugar mills.
By April 30, 2022, the remaining states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Odisha will have produced 32.36 lt.
Bihar, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Odisha have already suspended crushing operations for the current campaign.
Sugar sales by the end of March 2022 are expected to be 136.14 lt, up from 129.48 lakh tonnes the previous year, according to reports from sugar mills and ISMA estimates.
Furthermore, the government's domestic sugar sales quota, which is valid until May 2022, is up by 6.5 lakh tonnes from the same period last year. ISMA expects domestic consumption to be 272 lt this season, up from 265.5 lt last year.
According to trade reports, approximately 82-83 lt of sugar has been contracted for exports thus far. Nearly 68-70 lt of this is estimated to have been physically exported by the end of April, compared to 43.19 lakh tonnes a year ago.
As a result, it is expected that the Indian sugar industry will export more than 90 lakh tonnes this season.
Ethanol Production:
On the ethanol front, 410.32 crore litres have been contracted for and 168.66 crore litres of ethanol have been supplied as of April 24 against a total LOI quantity of 425.17 crore litres. The sugar industry has supplied approximately 149.16 crore litres, or more than 88 percent, of the total supply so far. According to ISMA, the country averaged a blending percentage of 9.82 percent on the corresponding date.
