Sugar production in Pakistan

Posted Fri, 02/25/2011 - 11:03pm by psma

ARTICLE: Today, Pakistan has achieved the cultivation of 55 million tonnes of sugarcane, the primary raw material for producing sugar, and consequently, sugar production in 2011 crushing season is projected at 3.8 million tonnes. Production of sugar from sugar-beet is limited to about 20,000 tonnes annually. The sugar industry, the second largest industry after textiles, currently has 86 factories in operation countrywide, with an installed capacity of 7.0 million tonnes of sugar annually. The industry, ranking 6th largest globally, produces one of the finest quality sugar of international standard and directly employs over 30,000 personnel. In comparison, the country, at the time of its emergence, had only two sugar mills, one at Rahwali (District Gujranwala) and the other at Takht Bhai (District Mardan) with total annual capacity of about 8,000 tonnes of sugar. By the year 1973, another seven sugar mills were installed bringing the cumulative capacity to 45,000 tonnes of sugar. However, there has been rapid development of the sugar industry during 1975-85 period when the total number of factories reached 35, with an installed capacity of one million tonnes of sugar. Subsequently, another 10 mills were added, each based on modernized 12,000 tonnes cane crushing capacity per day (tcd), doubling the total installed capacity of the industry at the end of 1990s. Indeed, the sugar sector owes its profitable, manifold expansion to the local engineering industry that fully meets for long its technical needs for plant, machinery and technical services. On the other hand, the nation shall ever remain indebted to Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto for laying a strong foundation for the heavy engineering industry, which is considered strategic for any country to achieving industrialization, economic growth and, most importantly, selfreliance. It was his vision, will and commitment that Pakistan has mega-projects like Pakistan Steel Mills, Heavy Mechanical Complex, Heavy Industries Taxila and a Heavy Electrical Complex in the public sector that have, over a period of time, shaped the future of industrialized Pakistan. In 1974, when the Heavy Mechanical Complex (HMC) had geared up to manufacture the firstever indigenous complete sugar mill, of 1,500 tcd, with the economic and technical assistance of the People's Republic of China, it was constrained to take-off due to a lack of commercial orders. The sugar industry was totally in the hands of the private sector and none of the prospective investors were willing to install an indigenous sugar plant, and that too the first one. With the exception of a couple of sugar mills with partial machinery produced in the Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KS&EW), all sugar mills were supplied and installed by foreign companies. Though the sugar industry was growing rapidly at that time, industrialists were too shy to bank on a newly-born HMC and were not willing to take any technical and/or commercial risks. Under these conditions, Prime Minister Bhutto directed the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) to set up a sugar mill at Naudero, later known as Larkana Sugar Mills, for which plant machinery was to be supplied by the HMC. At the same time, he advised the Punjab Industrial Development Board to place an order with the HMC for the installation of two sugar mills on a turn-key basis, to be located at Pasrur (District Sialkot) and Pattoki (District Kasur). All these sugar mills were successfully installed and commissioned by the HMC within the given timeline. A breakthrough was made, but still the private sector could not gain confidence to rely on the HMC in a big way, either for the BMRE of existing sugar mills or for the setting up of new factories, and continued to depend fully on foreign sources of supply and technical services due to a variety of factors. The government then came in with an iron-hand to promote indigenisation, and imposed a complete ban on the import of sugar plant and machinery. Simultaneously, the government offered a number of incentives to potential investors, including attractive financial packages, for procuring locally manufactured sugar mills. Thus began an era of indigenization of industrial plant machinery. The HMC was successful in acquiring advanced sugar technology, based on different processes for sugarcane and beet, from Poland, Australia and Germany, and enlarged plant capacity modules too.

During these years, the HMC has installed 28 complete sugar mills within the country and has undertaken the BMRE of another 29 sugar mills, besides the supply of various equipment, spares and accessories on a regular basis. It served as a precursor to developing the auxiliary and ancillary industry for the manufacture of a large number of items for sugar mills, a few units having grown now to become independent manufacturers and suppliers of sugar mill machinery, such as the Ittefaq Foundries, Haseeb Waqas Engineering, Hudaibia Engineering and Qadri Industries. Nonetheless, HMC continues to be the market leader. It offers a full range of complete sugar mills from 500 tcd to 12,000 tcd, based on various processes such as double carbonation, double sulphitation (DCDS), sulpho defecation, defecation remelt carbonation/sulphitation (DRC/DRS), defecation remelt telefloc (DRT) and others. All processes have their own merits and demerits; though sugar mills on DCDS are being modernized to defecation remelt processes through undertaking BMR. The scope of the HMC supply and services covers plant design and engineering, manufacture, supply, installation, erection, commissioning and trial runs, after-sales services etc. As the industry goes through major expansion once again, HMC has secured orders during July 2010January 2011 worth Rs 1,505 million from eight sugar mills, whereas additional orders of Rs 300 million are in the pipeline. The list of machinery to be supplied to these sugar mills includes high pressure boilers of 100 tonnes/hour steam generation with pressure of 65 bars for co-generation, which have been recently developed by the HMC. Sugar mills produced by the HMC, known for reliable and efficient performance, have placed Pakistan on the export world map too. It has installed two sugar mills in Bangladesh, one in Indonesia and Ethiopia each. Other engineering units in the private sector have also installed sugar mills in the African countries and have supplied main machinery to North and South America. Currently, HMC is negotiating orders for sugar mills to be installed in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. (The writer is a retired Chairman of State Engineering Corporation, is currently on the Board of Directors of the Heavy Mechanical Complex). Business Recorder

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Sugar Industry in Pakistan

Sugar Industry is the 2nd most important industry of Pakistan after cotton. Pakistan is self sufficient in sugar, out of which most is consumed locally and the excess is even exported. Pakistan inherited a weak base of sugar industry at the time of independence producing only 7,932 tonnes of sugar. The amount was insufficient for the local needs and so most of it had to be imported. The Government paid attention to improve this sector and set up a commission with the purpose to developing a stronger sugar industry. As a result of all the consistent efforts now we have 75 sugar mills in Pakistan which are producing 2.5 million tonnes of sugar. The industry has given employment to around 100,000 people. Most of sugar mills are present in Punjab and Sindh with 38 and 30 respectively, and only 6 are present in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. As sugarcane needs to be pressed soon after it is harvested, so the mills are located very close to the sugarcane fields so that the stalks can be transported as quickly as possible. After pressing the juice is used to make sugar while the left over named as Bagasse is used to make chipboards, paper etc. and is also

used as a source of power in the mills. Molasses is also a by product obtained during the process of sugar refining. Molasses is used in the chemical industry to make alcohol which is used in some medicines etc. Sugar mills are facing a problem of lack of raw material as excess quantity of raw sugarcane is used for Gur making and for seeds. It should be only 25% of total sugarcane production used but around 37% of it is used. With the shortage of raw material and some bad planning of the officials Pakistan has to import sugar from neighbouring countries to fulfil its local consumption. http://pakistan360degrees.contentcreatorz.com/sugar-industry-of-pakistan/