The Hindu Business Line : UP mills record drop in sugar recovery

New Delhi, Dec. 9 Sugar recovery rates recorded by mills in Uttar Pradesh (UP) during the ongoing 2008-09 crushing season (October-September) are 50-100 basis points lower compared with last season.

This could prompt further downward revision in output from the country’s premier cane producing State.

Prominent in West UP

The drop in recoveries has been especially pronounced in western UP, with mills in Meerut, Ghaziabad and Bulandshahr so far reporting 8.5-9 per cent rates (against 9.5-10 per cent in the corresponding period of 2007-08) and those in Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur between 9 and 9.5 per cent (9.5-10 per cent). Even Bijnor, which normally registers recoveries above 9.75 per cent, has seen a 50 basis point decline.

The story is no different in central UP (Bareilly, Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Hardoi, Sitapur), where recoveries are well below nine per cent this season, representing a fall of anywhere between 50 to 75 basis points. In the eastern districts too, where crushing operations have just commenced, recoveries are 30 to 50 basis points lower than last year.

Downward Revision

“It looks that the average recovery this season will be 50 to 75 basis points lower,” according to a leading miller. Recovery rates refer to the ratio of sugar produced to the quantity of cane crushed. A 50 basis point drop means that a factory that was earlier producing 9.5 tonnes of sugar for every 100 tonnes of cane crushed will now recover only nine tonnes.

The Centre had originally projected sugar output from UP at 70 lakh tonnes (lt) out of the all-India production of 220 lt. Recently, it has revised downwards its UP estimate to 62.25 lt out of the total 204.97 lt. But with abysmally low recovery rates, even the new projection may turn out to be on the higher side.

Yields drop

Worse, even cane yields this time appear to be lower than last year. Farmers in Ghaziabad and Meerut districts have reported yield drops of 30 per cent and above. The main culprit for this has been the white grub, an insect pest that feeds on the roots and underground stems of the plant, causing stunted growth.

“Last season, I harvested 50 quintals per bigha (32 tonnes an acre at 6.4 bigha-to-an-acre). This time, all I got was 15 quintals because of moti gidar (white grub),” said Mr Chandrasekhar Tyagi, a 54 bigha grower from Datyana village near Simbhaoli, Ghaziabad. A cross-section of farmers in the area Business Line interacted with claimed similar setbacks.

Weather Woes

In many other parts of UP, lower yields have been ascribed to a combination of extended rains (leading to stagnant water and flooding of fields in central and eastern UP) and poor tending of the crop by farmers reeling under the burden of unpaid cane dues. “They have not had the liquidity to invest sufficiently in fertilisers and other inputs,” the miller admitted.

Another factor impacting yields and recovery levels has been the severe winter frost that affected last season’s plant-cane. The cane currently being crushed by mills is the ratoon crop, sprouting from the root stubbles of the plant-cane that was harvested during mid-January to April.

Frost damage

“Since the plant-cane faced damage from the frost, the ratoon from it is also having lower yield and below-par sugar recovery”, the miller pointed out.

A final picture will be clear only when this year’s plant-cane is ready for crushing from the middle of next month. “As of now, we are seeing lower cane area, lower yields and lower recovery. There is very little cane available for crushing after mid-March, whereas the season normally drags till April-end”, the miller said, adding, “I won’t be surprised if production (in UP) goes below 50 lt”.