The state-owned Shyampur Sugar Mills in Rangpur, which has been out of production for more than 10 months, is increasing the burden of loss with every passing day. The accumulated loss of the company has risen to over Tk550 crore as it has been continuing to meet different expenses, such as wages of workers. The company, which also manufactures molasses as a by-product, has been incurring losses for years as it cannot extract enough juice from sugarcane and produce sugar, as expected, with old machinery. Both sugar and molasses are sold in the local market. To reduce losses, the Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) suspended the threshing of sugarcane in six sugar mills, including Shyampur Sugar Mills, in December 2020.
The sugar mills had 443 permanent and seasonal workers. After the suspension of production, there are now 123 permanent workers. It is unable to pay provident fund and gratuity to its retired workers, apart from failing to clear the dues of sugarcane suppliers. However, in addition to the old machinery, the mill has a huge area of unused land. Some alternatives have been suggested to ensure proper use of this land which could make the mills profitable. According to the monthly Management Information System (MIS) report of Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation, the income of Shyampur Sugar Mills in fiscal 2020-21 was around Tk12 crore. The loss against this income is Tk50.45 crore. The mills incurred the biggest loss in December 2020 when it had a total revenue of Tk30.42 lakh only.
The debt of Shyampur Sugar Mills is increasing day by day in trying to deal with the losses as other expenses are still ongoing. The mills have taken big loans from the state-owned Sonali and Janata banks to meet deficits. People concerned with the Shyampur Sugar Mills say the government should consider reinvesting into the mills and operating it smartly by overhauling its production process to reduce dependence on imported sugar for achieving food security amid the volatile global food market.
