Informist, Thursday, Sep 26, 2024

--Food secy: Things are looking up for sugar sector
--Food secy: Sugar production 2024-25 expected to be "very good"
--Food secy: Ethanol blending must for sugar mills financial stability
--Food secy: Launched 4 high-yielding cane varieties to aid sugar output
--Food secy: To add 65 more sugar mills' data to single window portal

By Afra Abubacker and Pallavi Singhal

NEW DELHI - Sugar production is expected to be very good in the season that starts next month, thanks to good rain, said Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra.

"We are expecting a very good crop during 2024-25 and sugar numbers are looking up, much better than what we thought maybe just three-four months back," Chopra said at The India Sugar & Bio-energy conference hosted by Indian Sugar And Bio-energy Manufacturers Association.

Chopra did not detail the government's sugar production estimates for 2024-25 (Oct-Sep). According to him, challenges remain in streamlining sugar production estimates given by states. "We are struggling actually, let me confess, with our estimates because many times we find that some states report sugarcane production estimates, which then towards the middle of the year get revised," Chopra said.

According to ISMA's preliminary estimates released on Jul 30, gross sugar output in the 2024-25 season is seen at 33.31 mln tn, down 2% from 33.99 mln tn last season. Gross sugar output is estimated before sucrose diversion for ethanol making.

Onthe sidelines, ISMA officials today said the gross sugar output now holds a potential for upward bias from 33.31 mln tn estimated earlier on account of good rainfall recently.

On improving sugar production by bettering sugarcane yields, Chopra said the government had recently released four new high yielding varieties that are also pest resistant and climate resilient.

About improving the accuracy of sugar production figures and bringing transparency into the sector, Chopra said sugar mills are asked to integrate their production and sales data into the national single window system. Sugar mills have to digitise their data in Enterprise and Resources Planning software as required by the government. The software tracks all information regarding making sugar--from harvesting, cane procurement, pricing, transporting, sales, inventory, among others.

Chopra appreciated Triveni Engineering and Industries Ltd for front running in data integration process and said that data from another 65 sugar mills will be integrated with the government portal.

The secretary clarified that restrictions imposed on ethanol production from sugarcane feedstock last year were a "temporary blip" amid concerns of lower sugar production in an election year. With the next sugar season looking better, the government, in late August, allowed sugar mills to freely divert sucrose from all sugarcane feedstock for ethanol production in the upcoming year.

"We have always maintained that the ethanol blending program is critical to the financial strength and muscle of the sugar sector," Chopra said. He also appreciated the industry for making good progress on cane payment to farmers. "Almost 1.05-1.10 lakh crores (1.05-1.10 trln) have already been disbursed to farmers and the cane payments are at a level of 97%, the highest ever in recent history," he said.

On ethanol blending program, Chopra said, "We have seen more than 15% blending (monthly) since May this year. The overall blending is very close to 14%. To reduce dependence on crude oil and promote green mobility, India has set a target of achieving 15% ethanol blending with petrol in 2023-24, and 20% in 2025-26.

On taking the ethanol blending project further, minister of consumer affairs and renewable energy Pralhad Joshi said he had written to the NITI Aayog to formulate a roadmap to achieve 25% ethanol blending. He did not specify the timeline that would be set for the proposed blending. End

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

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