EID-Parry’s port-based sugar refinery to go on stream soon

Murugappa Group company EID-Parry is all set to commence operations at its Rs600-crore port-based sugar refinery in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh by the month-end.

The refinery, Silkroad Sugar Pvt Ltd, set up as a joint venture with Cargill Asia Pacific in 2006, has been idling for most of the time and the restart of operations is a significant development for the Murugappa Group.

Cargill exited the venture in 2012 and EID-Parry bought its 49 per cent stake to make the refinery a wholly-owned subsidiary.

The delay in operationalising the refinery has been due mainly to lack of adequate natural gas supplies to operate the power plant.

The refinery, which was operated for about a year between 2010 and 2011, had to be shut down for want of adequate fuel supplies.

EID-Parry has now set up a 10-MW coal-based plant to power the unit. The company is also planning to expand refining capacity at the facility.

The SEZ refinery will use both imported raw sugar and sugar from group sources to refine and export white sugar.

A Vellayan, chairman of EID-Parry, said the 6-lakh-tonne-a-year unit will initially operate at about 4 lakh tonnes and reach full capacity in 2015-16.

The capacity will be further expanded to 1 million tonnes in 2016-17, with an additional investment of about Rs100 crore.

Company officials said the plant has a potential to generate a business of Rs1,200 crore.

EID-Parry is one of the top five sugar producers in the country and has several pioneering credits – from integrated sugar complexes that maximise the utility of sugarcane, to converting bagasse into electricity and introducing IT-enabled services for farmers.

The sugar vertical is an integrated business where crushing facilities are supplemented with co-generation units and distilleries.

In addition to the Kakinada refinery complex, the company operates five sugar factories (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry) with a crushing capacity of 19,000 TCD, power generation of 85 MW and two distilleries with a capacity of 135 KLPD processing molasses into various types of alcohol.

EID-Parry reported a net profit of Rs201.90 crore for the fourth quarter of the 2013-14 financial year, a 2-fold jump from the similar quarter of the previous year.