Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The government has set a high production target for the state-run sugar mills for this financial year (2019-20) in a bid to reduce their perennial losses.
Officials said, a total of 15 mills under the Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) will go for production in phases from early November targeting production of 1.25 lakh tonnes of sugar.
The sugar mills have produced around 59,000 tonnes sugar during the last crushing season against their overall capacity of 2.10 lakh tonnes.
Production at the mills crossed over one lakh tonnes just once after 2010.
“We have already brought drastic changes in the management of state-owned sugar mills to meet the production target,” Md Abdul Halim, Secretary, Ministry of Industries, told The New Nation yesterday. “Even, we entered into deals with the managements of respective mills to improve their financial status and performances tagging a number of conditions, ” he added.
Sugar mills under BSFIC have been incurring huge losses every year due to production shortfall caused by system loss, sugar-cane shortage and irregularities in sugar-cane purchase.
Besides, most of the mills, with old age machineries, have lost their efficiency yielding a fall in production and thereby causing losses.
“Management inefficiency is the main cause for the perennial losses of the public sugar mills. But, their managements are diverting it to other ditches to hide their failures,” said Md Abdul Halim, adding, “We are closely monitoring their activities asking them to introduce best management practices to recoup mills’ losses.”
The government has to budget a hefty fund every year for the loss-making public sugar mills to pay salaries and wages of their officials and employees, creating burden on the national exchequer.
In the last five years, the government had provided Tk 3,500 crore to the BSFIC, mainly to bear operating expenses of the state-run sugar mills.
These mills are located in Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Setabganj in Dinajpur, Shyampur in Rangpur, Joypurhat, Rajshahi, North Bengal Sugar Mills in Natore, Pabna, Kushtia, Chuadanga, Mobarakganj in Jhenaidah, Faridpur and Jamalpur.
The total annual demand for sugar in Bangladesh is 1.4 million tonnes.
The 15 sugar mills under the BSFIC can produce about 60,000 tonnes annually.
The private sugar mills and sugar refining factories can produce more than double of the total demand.
“Though the production capacity of 15 state-owned sugar mills is around 2.10 lakh tonnes, the supply crisis of sugar-cane and low productivity of the old age mills forced us to keep the production target low,” A BSFIC official told the New Nation yesterday on condition of anonymity.
He said if the mills could be run with full capacity, they do not need government funds for their operation.
The government has set a high production target for the state-run sugar mills for this financial year (2019-20) in a bid to reduce their perennial losses.
Officials said, a total of 15 mills under the Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) will go for production in phases from early November targeting production of 1.25 lakh tonnes of sugar.
The sugar mills have produced around 59,000 tonnes sugar during the last crushing season against their overall capacity of 2.10 lakh tonnes.
Production at the mills crossed over one lakh tonnes just once after 2010.
“We have already brought drastic changes in the management of state-owned sugar mills to meet the production target,” Md Abdul Halim, Secretary, Ministry of Industries, told The New Nation yesterday. “Even, we entered into deals with the managements of respective mills to improve their financial status and performances tagging a number of conditions, ” he added.
Sugar mills under BSFIC have been incurring huge losses every year due to production shortfall caused by system loss, sugar-cane shortage and irregularities in sugar-cane purchase.
Besides, most of the mills, with old age machineries, have lost their efficiency yielding a fall in production and thereby causing losses.
“Management inefficiency is the main cause for the perennial losses of the public sugar mills. But, their managements are diverting it to other ditches to hide their failures,” said Md Abdul Halim, adding, “We are closely monitoring their activities asking them to introduce best management practices to recoup mills’ losses.”
The government has to budget a hefty fund every year for the loss-making public sugar mills to pay salaries and wages of their officials and employees, creating burden on the national exchequer.
In the last five years, the government had provided Tk 3,500 crore to the BSFIC, mainly to bear operating expenses of the state-run sugar mills.
These mills are located in Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Setabganj in Dinajpur, Shyampur in Rangpur, Joypurhat, Rajshahi, North Bengal Sugar Mills in Natore, Pabna, Kushtia, Chuadanga, Mobarakganj in Jhenaidah, Faridpur and Jamalpur.
The total annual demand for sugar in Bangladesh is 1.4 million tonnes.
The 15 sugar mills under the BSFIC can produce about 60,000 tonnes annually.
The private sugar mills and sugar refining factories can produce more than double of the total demand.
“Though the production capacity of 15 state-owned sugar mills is around 2.10 lakh tonnes, the supply crisis of sugar-cane and low productivity of the old age mills forced us to keep the production target low,” A BSFIC official told the New Nation yesterday on condition of anonymity.
He said if the mills could be run with full capacity, they do not need government funds for their operation.
