The Hindu Business Line : E.I.D. Parry set to complete sugar mill expansion

Looking ahead
Crushing capacity expected to go up to 19,000 t/day (15,800 t)
Considering ‘satellite sugar mills’ in existing sugarcane areas
Looking at further expansions outside TN

R. Balaji

Chennai, Aug. 6 E.I.D. Parry (India) Ltd is set to complete its Rs 850-crore sugar mill expansion programme that would see it emerge as a fully integrated sugar producer with cogeneration and distillery facilities in all its sugar mills.

The company’s joint venture with Cargill Asia Pacific Holding Pte Ltd for a million-tonne sugar refinery at Kakinada SEZ is set to go onstream within the year, according to company officials.

According to the officials, E.I.D. Parry formally completed the sale of its 47 per cent share in the Parryware Roca joint venture to Roca for Rs 747.39 crore, which has been taken on record as on July 28. The company is now examining options to deploy the funds for further growth across its various business segments including sugar, nutraceuticals, biopesticides and the SEZ.

With the ongoing expansion programme in its sugar mills in the final stages, the company is looking at further expansions outside Tamil Nadu — in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, and possibly in Maharashtra.

It is also examining options of ‘satellite sugar mills’ within its existing sugarcane areas to help it to more efficiently exploit the sugarcane resources by speeding up throughput and bringing down transport costs.

Current expansion

The ongoing expansion programme in the sugar mills will see its sugarcane crushing capacity go up to 19,000 tonnes a day from the present 15,800 tonnes spread over its five sugar mills in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. By the year end it will have 90 MW of cogeneration capacity and about 240 kilolitres a day (klpd) of distillation capacity. But a portion of the distillery capacity is likely to go onstream next year after the statutory clearances are obtained, officials said.

The distillery expansion includes a greenfield expansion at Sivaganga, where a 60-klpd unit is being planned. This would process the molasses from the Pugalur and Pettaivathalai units, where a distillery is not possible because of environmental issues.

Kakinada SEZ

Parry Infrastructure Co Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary, is setting up a 102-hectare food processing SEZ at Kakinada. The joint venture with Cargill Asia Pacific for the sugar refinery, Silkroad Sugar Pvt Ltd, is setting up a 6,00,000-tonnes-a-year refinery within the SEZ. It will be expanded to its full capacity of a million tonnes a year after it starts production by the year end or early next year.

Apart from the 43 acres earmarked for the refinery, Parry Infrastructure will soon allocate space for agro- and food processing units within the SEZ. Its location at Kakinada provides scope for setting up a natural gas-based power project within the SEZ.

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