Huge quantities of molasses,ethanol lead Maharashtrasugar mills to stare at fire risk,Rs 925 crore financial loss
As Maharashtra enters its last leg of the 2023-24 sugarcane crushing season, millers are staring at a huge stock of ethanol and rectified spirit valued at Rs 925 crore. Apart from financial burden, millers say this unsold stock poses significant risk given the highly combustible nature of the material.
Earlier this year, in a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, P R Patil, the chairman of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation, pointed out that the decision to debar ethanol produced from B heavy molasses and a complete ban of production of rectified spirit and extra neutral alcohol (ENA) has put sugar mills in a fix.
In anticipation of a probable shortage in sugar production, the central government had put a blanket ban on the production of ethanol — the fuel additive from B heavy molasses as well as ethanol produced from sugarcane juice or sugar syrup.
Ethanol, which is added to petrol, has come by as a lifeline for the sugar industry. Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have been regularly procuring ethanol from the sugar mills which allowed the latter to have more than one income source to make their ends meet.
While the central government had allowed production of ethanol from B heavy and cane juice, it had capped the diversion to just 17 lakh tonne. As a result, mills are burdened with unsold stock of B heavy molasses.
OMCs have floated a tender for procurement of ethanol. As per the federation, Maharashtra alone has a stock of 2.56 lakh litre of B heavy molasses, 93.66 lakh litre of ethanol produced from B heavy molasses and 79.78 lakh litre of alcohol/rectified spirit/extra neutral alcohol with them. Nationally, the federation said the total valuation of the dead stock is around Rs 2,800 crore.
B heavy molasses as well ethanol and other derivatives are stored at the sugar mills in huge containers. Given the extremely combustible nature of the material, mills take extra precaution but still accidents can’t be ruled out. Millers, who had anticipated a shortage in the availability of sugarcane, were in
fact stumped to see the per acre yield increase by over 15 per cent. Only 37 of the 207 sugar mills which had started their operations have ended their season. As against the earlier estimates, Maharashtra has till date produced 98.53 lakh tonne of sugar and the industry feels the final production figure can well touch the 100 lakh-tonne mark. But the production uptake has failed to cheer the section up. As sugar prices drop, millers now fear they would have to face difficulty in paying the farmers for the sugarcane they purchased.
Source Link: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/maharashtra-sugar-mills-fire-risk-financial-loss-9210158/
