India's 2020-21 Sugar Production Increased by 31 percent till January 15, Says ISMA

The Indian Sugar Mills Association said that India's sugar production from 2020-21 to January 15 rose by 31% compared to the same timeframe of the previous year (ISMA). 'As at 15 January 2021, 487 sugar mills are in operation in the country and have processed 142.70 lac tons of sugar, compared with 108.94 lac tons produced by 440 sugar mills as at 15 January 2020.

As compared to last season's performance for the corresponding era, this is 33.76 lac tons higher,' ISMA said in a statement.

In Uttar Pradesh, 120 sugar mills processed 42,99 tons of lac until 15 January 2021. 119 sugar mills were in service on 15 January 2020 in the last SS 2019-20 and 43.78 lac tons of sugar had been made.

This year's marginally lower production is attributed to supposedly lower cane yields and lower state sugar recoveries. In Maharashtra, 181 sugar mills in operation produced 51.55 tons of lac until 15 January 2021, compared with 139 sugar mills producing 25.51 tons of lac last year for the same duration. This is 26.04 lac tons greater for the corresponding duration relative to last season's output.

Karnataka sugar mills are in service on 15 January 2021, producing 29.80 lac tons of sugar compared to 21.90 lac tons produced on 15 January 2020 by 63 sugar mills in 2019-20 SS. There are 20 sugar mills in operation in Tamil Nadu, compared with 17 mills worked on 15 January last year. About 1.15 lac tons of sugar is processed by sugar mills in Tamil Nadu until 15 January 2021, compared to 1.57 lac tons produced last year on the corresponding date.

Together, the remaining States of Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand,  Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, Punjab & Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Odisha, produced 12.81 lac tons of sugar by 15 January 2021. For the year 2020-21, about 309.81 Cr ltrs is distributed by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), including about 39.36 Cr ltrs from weakened grains of food and excess rice.

Based on the overall gasoline market, this will mean a blend of about 7-8 percent. However, as of 11 January 2021, some states such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand have already achieved a blending percentage of 9-10%.

Based on the images of the remaining cane region to be cultivated, the recovery pattern, the yield and the drawing percentage of sugar cane achieved so far, ISMA will release its second advance estimate of the production of sugar for the 2020-21 SS cycle by the end of January 2021, if necessary.

'About 3 lac tons of sugar were exported during the period October to December 2020, as per industry estimates, which is against the 2019-20 SS MAEQ which was extended to 31 December 2020,' said ISMA.