Staff Reporter :
Carew and Co only out of 15 state-run sugar mills is counting profits while the rest are facing losses.
Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun told in his reply to a question from Bhola 2 lawmaker Ali Azam in parliament on Sunday.
Of the government-owned sugar mills, Carew and Co only is profitable, the industries minister said.
Sugarcane thrashing has been suspended at six of the unprofitable mills, he said adding that the six mills are in Pabna, Shyampur, Setabganj, Kushtia, Panchagarh and Rangpur. Production at these mills has been on halt since December 2020 amid mounting losses.
The state-run sugar mills are-Panchagarh Sugar Mills, Thakurgaon Sugar Mills, Shyampur Sugar Mills, Jaypurhat Sugar Mills, Setabgonj Sugar Mills, Rangpur Sugar Mills, Faridpur Sugar Mills, North Bengal Sugar Mills, Carew & Co (Bd), Pabna Sugar Mills, Rajshahi Sugar Mills, Natore Sugar Mills, Zeal Bangla Sugar Mills, Kushtia Sugar Mills and Mobarakgonj Sugar Mill Ltd.
According to media reports, sugarcane cultivation in the country fell by 45 per cent to slightly over 48,000 hectares in 2019 from more than 88,000 hectares in 2002, leading to over 66 per cent fall in the production.
In 2019, about 69,000 tonnes of sugar was produced compared with 2,04,000 tonnes in 2002. According to the report, in the 18 years since the sugar import was allowed, the Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) saw profit in 2005-06 only.
At present, Bangladesh can meet about 5.0 per cent of its annual demand for sugar through domestic production. It has to spend more than Tk 50.0 billion a year to import sugar to meet the annual domestic requirement for over 2.0 million tonnes, according to estimates.
BSFIC which is supposed to keep the domestic sugar price stable, has the capacity to produce only two hundred thousand tonnes of sugar a year. But dearth of supply of sugarcane has become a major problem for the 15 state-run mills to run full capacity.
One of the key issues that should have been looked into long back but not attended to so far is that with only three-four months of productive operation, the sugar mills cannot be expected to avoid loss. Another issue that goes with this is that increasing productivity is dependent on sugarcane harvest. Thus the choice is to diversify production.
Experts hold that in the context of Bangladesh, only sugar production cannot make a mill viable. Proper utilisation of by-products of sugar should be explored to make these mills profitable.
