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SUGAR INDUSTRY: NATIONAL ECONOMY
TABLE I
No. of Working Sugar Factories 453
Cane Price Per Tonne US$ 20
Cane Price paid annually US$ 3700 Million
No. of cane farmers 50 Million
Sugar Production 20.0 Million Tonnes (Raw Value)
Annual Tax contribution to exchequer US $ 500 Million
Employment including ancillary activities 2 Million People
Fuel Ethanol of 5% blend (Value) US $ 200 Million per annum
Current export of Co-generated power
(Value)
US $ 100 Million per annum
The average cane crushing capacity in India, Brazil and Thailand is given below :
Country Avg. Capacity (TCD)
Thailand 10300
Brazil 9200
India 3500
The Government of India licensed new units with an initial capacity of 1250 TCD upto
1980s which was subsequently increased to 2500 TCD. Government de-licensed the
sugar sector in August 1998, thereby removing the restrictions on expansion of existing
capacity as well as on establishment of new units, with the only stipulation that a
minimum distance of 15 Kms would continue to be observed between an existing sugar
mill and a new mill. The number of sugar mills and the growth in capacity over decennial
period 1980-81 to 2000-01 and in the year 2001-02 to 2003-04 is given in Table No. II.
Table No. II: GROWTH IN AVERAGE CAPACITY OF SUGAR MILLS
Decennial period ending No. of Units Average Capacity Per Unit
(TCD)
1980-81 299 1650
1990-91 377 2030
2000-01 423 3000
2001-02 437 3200
2002-03 433 3350
2003-04 453 3500
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Cane Acreage & Production
Sugarcane occupies about 2.7% of the total cultivated area and it is one of the most
important cash crops in the country. The area under sugarcane has gradually increased
over the years mainly because of much larger diversion of land from other crops to
sugarcane by the farmers for economic reasons. The cane area has, however, declined in
the year 2003-04 mainly due to drought and pest attacks.
Table III
SUGARCANE AREA AND PRODUCTION
FROM 1980-81 TO 2000-01 & UPTO 2003-04
Year Area under cane (Million
hectares)
Cane Production (Million
tonnes)
1980-81 2.67 154
1990-91 3.69 241
2000-01 4.32 296
2001-02 4.41 297
2002-03 4.36 282
2003-04 3.99 236
Apart from fixation of statutory minimum price for sugarcane, the industry is also
required to share 50% of the extra realisation on free sale sugar over the levy price with
the cane farmers. Delay in making the cane price payment over 15 days also attracts 15%
penal interest. For the season 2003-04, the average sugarcane price paid being Rs.950/-
per tonne, is much higher than the cane prices, paid in the major sugar producing and
exporting countries, where it is linked to sugar sales realisation and is also disbursed in 2
to 3 installments
Tempted by such securitisation of price, farmers preferred to increase area under cane
causing spurt in cane acreage and sugarcane production significantly. From a level of 154
million tonnes in 1980-81, the cane production increased to 241 million tonnes in 1990-
91 and further to 296 million tonnes in 2000-01. Since then it has been hovering around
Unlike sugarcane, where the farmers are assured of a minimum price by way of a
statutory order issued by the Government, in respect of all other agricultural crops
including food grains, the Government of India only announces the minimum support
prices (MSP). On the other hand, with statutory protection, sugarcane farmers receive the
price as statutorily notified from the sugar mills even when it resulted in sizable loss to
the sugar undertakings.
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300 million tonnes until last year. In the season 2003-04, however, sugarcane production
declined to 236 million tones.
Indian Sugar Mills Association
'C' Block, 2nd Floor, Ansal Plaza,
A.K. Road, Andrews Ganj,
New Delhi- 110049 INDIA
Phones: +91-11-2626 2294-97
FAX: +91-11-2626 3231
E-mails: [email protected]
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Sugar The sugar industry is one of the largest sectors of the Indian economy and India is now the largest producer and consumer of sugar in the world. Sugar is exported from India in recent years. Maharashtra contributes over one-third of country’s sugar output (36 per cent) followed by Uttar Pradesh with 25 per cent. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are the other two important sugar-producing states in the country. There has been record production of sugar during sugar year1999-2000 (October – September) estimated at 18.2 million tonnes.
Year Area
Under
Cane
Cane
Prod.
Million
tonnes
Cane Utilization
Million tonnes
Sugar Production
Lakh tonnes
Million
hectares For
Sugar
For
Gur &
Khandsari.
For
Seed &
Chew
Target Revised
Prod.
2002-
03
4.36 309.9 181 92.0 37 182 192
In terms of sugarcane production, India and Brazil are almost equally placed. In
India, about 60% of cane is utilized for the production of sugar, about 30% for alternate
sweeteners, namely gur and khandsari, and the balance 10% for seeds.
In Brazil, out of the total cane available for crushing, 45% goes for sugar
production and 55% for the production of ethanol directly from sugarcane juice. This
gives the sugar industry in Brazil an additional flexibility to adjust its sugar production
keeping in view the sugar price in the international market as nearly 40% of the sugar
output is exported.
The annual projected growth rate in the area under sugarcane at 1.5% per annum
has doubled during the last five years. This is because it is considered to be an assured
cash crop with good returns to the farmers vis-a-vis other competing crops.
About 35 million farmers constituting about 7% of the rural population are
engaged in growing sugar cane. The industry absorbs a sizable portion of the cane crop
and provides the farmer with the resources to meet his commitments. Each sugar factory
deals with thousands of cane farmers. Sugar cane being a highly perishable crop, cannot
be transported over long distances. On storing cut cane for more than two days inversion
of sucrose to mono-saccharides takes place. Inversion is minimized by shading cuttings
and making quick delivery of the cane, at the mill.
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Sucrose: C12H22O11
Disaccharide of glucose and fructose
Quantitative requirements: Basis: 1 ton of raw sugar (97% sucrose); yield from cane-95%
on sucrose basis, 9.5-15% on basis.
Sugar cane: 6 to 10.5 tons of 16 to 10% sucrose content
Water: 3 to 4 tons
Lime: 12 to 17 kg
SO2: 6 to 10 kg
Process description: Canes are shredded in crushers and squeezed through a series of
pressure mills containing grooved walls. Weak juice and make up water are added as
extracting fluids before squeezing to optimize juice yield at 95 to 97%
The juice is treated with Calcium phosphate, followed by lime to precipitate the
colloids. SO2 is next bubbled through until the pH is 7.0 to7.1. This procedure provides
maximum flocculation of impurities. The SO2 also acts as a bleaching agent. Phosphoric
acid or CO2 can be substituted as the acidifying agent.
Closed steam in a coil is used to heat and further flocculate the impurities in a
continuous settler. The clarified liquor overflows to the evaporator. The underflow mud is
processed on a continuous rotary press to recover sugar solution that is either passed
forward to the evaporator or backward to the thickener again if it is not clear. The filter
cake is used for fertilizer.
The clarified juice is concentrated to 80-85 % water to 40% in a 3 or 4 effect
evaporator with crystallization completed in a vacuum pan unit The mixture of syrup and
crystal are separated via a high speed basket centrifugal. The syrup is re-concentrated and
cooled successively to obtain one or more crops of crystals.The final mother liquor is
known as black strap molasses that is sent to distilleries for conversion to ethyl alcohol.
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Improving sugarcane juice quality -- Benefits of the ultrafiltration technique
M. Somasekhar
A SUGAR mill in the private sector and a national research institute have come together
and successfully implemented a technique that helps in producing chemical-free, nil
sulphur, refined quality sugar.
The key ingredients in this technique, called ultrafiltration, are indigenous polymeric
membrane modules. These membranes can withstand high temperatures and are only the
second of their kind used in the sugar industry worldwide.
According to the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council
(TIFAC), which supported the collaborative project, the only other similar attempt in the
global sugar industry was by Koch Membrane Systems, US.
The sugarcane juice obtained from plantation crop is purified by these membrane
modules, which act as filters. The main advantages of this technique are improved
recovery of sugar, superior product quality and the fact that no chemicals are used.
The experiments establishing this ultrapurification technique using indigenous polymeric
filters were conducted at the Simbhaoli Sugar Mills Limited (SSML), in Ghaziabad
district of Uttar Pradesh. The Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), New Delhi, did the
experimental work.
The process has been demonstrated on a 10 tonnes/hr industrial-scale pilot plant. The
membranes specifically designed for the pilot-scale operations by Permionics, a
Vadodara-based company, withstood continuous operations at 97 degrees C.
The technique should has great potential to help sugar manufacturers, especially of
plantation white sugar, who have been facing the challenge of ensuring that the juice
obtained through clarification is of consistently high clarity and low colour.
This poses a stiff challenge because of the wide variations in cane varieties, soil and
growing conditions, climate and, above all, fluctuations in the manufacturing process
itself, leading to variations in the juice characteristics, according to TERI.
To overcome this problem, membrane-based filtration methods, such as microfiltration
and ultrafiltration, are being tried out. TERI, with funding from the TIFAC under the
`Sugar Technology Mission' initiative, took up the demonstration project at Simbhaoli
Sugar Mills Ltd, which was keen on evaluating ultrafiltration for the purification of
sugarcane juice in the manufacture of plantation white sugar.
According to the project implemented by TERI and SSML, ultrafiltration trials for three
successive crushing seasons beginning November 1997 were carried out at the Ghaziabad
mill. The juice obtained had an additional purity of 0.74 units compared to the output
using the conventional liming-sulphitation process.
The other advantages claimed by the team consisting of Drs M. Balakrishnan and A. M.
Ghosh of TERI, and Messrs S. N. Misra, N. C. Sharma and P. Ranga Rao of SSML, were
a ten-fold improvement in juice clarity and a near 60 per cent reduction in colour. The
process itself leads to a drastic cut in the inorganics (iron, silica, manganese and zinc)
content in the juice.
In short, the TERI-SSML-TIFAC initiative promises to provide an opportunity for the
Indian sugar industry to develop a process for the direct production of chemical-free
refined quality sugar without going in for sugar refining techniques.
They suggest long-term trials and a commitment from the sugar industry to establish the
reliability of this technique in the existing environment. A majority of the sugar mills in
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the country today use the double-sulphitation technique to produce plantation white
sugar, which needs upgradation to produce international grade sugar, according to
TIFAC.
Towards this end TIFAC, through its sugar technology mission, helped another private
sugar factory in Barabanki village on the outskirts of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. DSM
Sugar was extended a soft loan (6 per cent per annum) of Rs 474 lakh from the Sugar
Development Fund (SDF).
Consequently, in the upgradation project minor changes to the existing machinery were
made and a combination of phospho-floatation process for clarification, filtration and
decolourisation deployed to produce sugar with nil sulphur and low ash content.
The double sulphitation process used by the sugar mill was replaced to produce raw and
refined sugar of export quality and to meet the demands of the domestic pharmaceutical
and beverage industries.
In the quest for providing technology inputs to produce sugar of international standard,
TIFAC has been spearheading a Sugar Technology Mission (STM) since 1993. The five
main thrusts of the mission are:
Reducing sugar losses
Energy conservation
Superior product quality
Minimisation of pollution
Value-addition to by-products.
The STM was started in close collaboration with the Department of Food and Public
Distribution. It is one of the first instances when a socio-economic ministry decided to
work closely with the science ministry for improvement in technical efficiency of a large
industry.
Having already achieved several incremental technological developments, which are
being implemented by the Indian sugar mills, the STM will, during the Tenth Plan period,
focus on replication of select technologies already evaluated on a plant scale. It would
prepare schemes for technology upgradation of 15-20 sugar factories for achieving
multiplier effect.
In the past few years it has taken up 27 sugar factories for technological upgradation and
helped prepare detailed schemes for the purpose. It has evaluated a number of modern
technologies and extended financial, techno-managerial support to 19 new technologies
for their evaluation.