The Hindu Business Line : Maharashtra mills to import 1 lakh t sugar

SUGAR mills in Maharashtra are planning to import about one lakh tonnes (lt) of raw sugar during the coming 2004-05 crushing season (October-September). The raw sugar, which would be imported duty-free under the advance licence scheme, is expected to partially offset the drought-induced shortfall in domestic sugarcane output.

This follows the Government giving mills the flexibility to sell the white sugar processed from the imported raw sugar in the domestic market and to treat it as part of their free-sale release quota. While there would be no dilution of the requirement to export white sugar within a period of 24 months from making the duty-free import of raw sugar, mills will, however, be allowed to undertake the same by processing domestically sourced sugarcane.

"We have lined up a meeting on September 13 (Monday) with prospective parties, who would import the raw sugar on our behalf", said an official of the Maharashtra State Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd (MSFCSFL).

Maharashtra has 183 registered sugar mills, of which the commissioned factories number 154. During the 2003-04 season, 120 factories came into production, crushing 290 lt of sugarcane and producing 31.7 lt of sugar. This is as against the previous season, when most factories were in operation and ended up crushing 534 lt of cane and producing 62.19 lt of sugar.

But with most cane growing areas going through an extended period of drought — notwithstanding the good rains in August — only 72 factories are slated to commence operations during the coming 2004-05 season, beginninsg October. "We will be able to crush only 170 lt of cane this time, which will translate into 17-18 lt of sugar," the official said.

Moreover, even the 72 factories would be able to operate at hardly 40-50 per cent capacity and run for 100 days, unlike the normal capacity utilisation of 90 per cent plus and crushing duration of 120-130 days. And even within the 72 factories, there would be around 20 who would be not be able to operate even at 40 per cent capacity.

"We identified the 72 factories after a Committee under the Director-General of the Pune-based Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) did a detailed mill-wise assessment of cane availability, financial position and other parameters. Given the scarce supply of cane, we did not want a situation of all factories going into production and ending up operating at 5-10 per cent capacity," the official pointed out.

According to the official, if the one-lakh tonne of imported raw sugar is used in conjunction with local sugarcane, "we can ensure that all the 72 factories will run at 50 per cent plus capacity, making operations somewhat viable." The imported raw sugar would basically be passed through a melter, with the melted raw sugar then being mixed with the sugarcane juice that is obtained from the regular crushing process. This is unlike normal processing of raw sugar in a stand-alone refinery.

"We want the imported raw sugar to be used during the crushing operations, as this will entail using the same baggase-fired boiler without incurring additional fuel costs. If raw sugar is imported after the season, it would require processing in a stand-alone refinery operating on boilers fired by coal, lignite or furnace oil", the official added.

The cooperative factories in Maharashtra, unlike a few private mills such as Dhampur, Sakthi Sugar or Bannari Amman, also do not have stand-alone refineries, which can process raw sugar in the off-season without using baggase.

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