Sugar industries continue to reel under heavy debts and losses; is there any way out?

The sugar industry in India is going through a very rough phase. Sugar - the second largest agro-based industry – supports over 50 million farmers and their families in this country, and thus takes care of their economical sustenance and development. However, its own survival is at risk these days as almost all sugar mills are reeling under debts and mounting losses. Nothing seems to work for sugar companies. Government intervention can help. Linking sugar and sugarcane prices is the first and foremost demand of the sugar industries.

Though sugar industries no longer need to sell 10 per cent of their sugar production at cheaper rates and can sell their entire production at market prices, government needs to do much more. The biggest hurdle before the industry has been the strong disparity between sugarcane and sugar prices. Whereas minimum payment for sugarcane is fixed by both central and state governments, there is no such mechanism in place for setting the sugar prices.

In the last many years, sugarcane prices went up like anything; however, sugar prices didn’t see much increase. This caused huge losses for the industry. This is high time for the government to step in and roll out some concrete measures to enhance the viability of the industry.

A sneak peek into the world of sugarcane and sugar

Sugar is a carbohydrate that is found in all fruits and vegetables. It is in fact the major product of photosynthesis, which is a process of transforming sun energy into food by the plants. Sugarcane and sugar beet store the greatest amount of natural sugar in them, which is later separated for commercial use.

Sugar manufacturing – 

• Pressing the sugarcane to extract as much juice as possible
• Boiling of juice till the time it thickens and sugar begins to form crystals
• Spinning of crystals in a centrifuge to remove syrup to produce raw sugar
• A sugar refinery finally turns the raw sugar into sugar we consume in our everyday life

Unlike the decades old scenario, the modern sugar industry places great emphasis on educating the grower community. To ensure constant supply of good quality sugar in sufficient quantity, players in the sugar industry roll out awareness programs for the sugarcane farmers to educate them on the best farming practices for sugarcane, and ways to reduce their water dependency for the crop. Many sugar manufacturers have set-up their plants near the villages/areas where sugarcane is produced in abundance to reduce the time gap between crop cutting and receiving it at the plant.

What We Do at Dalmia Bharat Sugar

Dalmia Bharat Sugar is a leading sugar supplier in India. We produce Double Sulphitation Sugar, which is graded as per their size and color. M – 31, L – 30, L – 31, and S – 31 are among the popular sugar grades manufactured in the country. Sugar grades, like S – 31 are especially produced to cater to the needs of biscuit manufacturers.

Apart from sugar, our other products (which are actually the by-products of sugar) include Molasses, Alcohol, Power, and Organic Manure in our three plants in Uttar Pradesh and one in Maharashtra.

Molasses is extensively used for producing ethyl alcohol. We produce three kinds of alcohol, which are Rectified Spirit (RS), Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA), and Denatured Spirit (SDS).

We also make use of bagasse (a by-product of sugar manufacturing process) for electricity generation to meet the energy needs of our manufacturing plants. For organic manure, it is the farmers and tea estates, which are our main customers.

These result in a more ecofriendly utilization of resources.

At Dalmia Bharat Sugar, we also introduce different awareness programs at regular intervals to educate the sugarcane growers about the best practices on farming. Be it Nukkad Natak, or Road Shows, we make use of every platform to effectively communicate our message to the grower community.

For more on Dalmia Bharat Sugar, click here http://www.dalmiasugar.com

Dalmia Sugar – One of the leading sugar manufacturers in India

Over the years, India has been known to be the original home of sugar and sugarcane. India is the second largest producer of sugarcane next to Brazil. India is the largest single producer of sugar including traditional cane sugar sweeteners, Khandsari and Gur equivalent to 26 million tonnes raw value followed by Brazil in the second place at 18.5 million tonnes. Even in respect of white crystal sugar, India has ranked No.1 position in 7 out of last 10 years.

Dalmia Sugar is a leading sugar supplier and manufacturer and was introduced in mid-Nineties with its first unit of 2500 TCD was set up at Village Ramgarh in Sitapur district of U.P in 1994. During 2006-07, company achieved new milestones by setting up two Greenfield plants at Jawaharpur (Dist. Sitapur, U.P.) and Nigohi (Dist. Shahjahanpur, U.P.) and expanding existing facilities at Ramgarh unit. The total cane crushing capacity of the company is now 22500 TCD which makes us one of the leading sugar manufacturers in the country.

Under the structured Industrial Development Policy, sugar industry was part of Five-Year Plans introduced in 1951 and has been under the direct control of the Government ever since. Sugar industry is highly politicized and so closely managed by the Government which has no parallel in the industry. The Government of India controls, covers all aspects of sugar business i.e. licensing/capacity/cane area, procurement/pricing/ sugar pricing/distribution and imports and exports.

The highly advanced manufacturing facilities at Dalmia Sugar serve as a role model for other players in the Sugar industry and have achieved excellence in plant operational metrics also have a technological leadership position in the industry. The company employs robust quality systems to deliver world-class sugar quality. This high quality sugar founds wide acceptance in markets in U.P & eastern India and institutional buyers such as Pepsi, Coke Britannia, Bharati Wal-Mart, Parle etc. who have stringent quality norms.

Being the leading sugar supplier, Dalmia Sugar strives to seek increased productivity in the sugar business with enhanced varieties of cane, higher farm yields and efficient crushing. The company focuses on becoming a significant player in the green energy field and seeks opportunities to expand its wind portfolio.