By IANS,
Chennai : EID Parry (India) will be completing the restructuring of its sugar business soon while negotiations for a coal-fired boiler to power its Rs.500 crore sugar refinery at Andhra Pradesh’s Kakinada are progressing well, said a top company official.
“The process of merging two sugar plants of subsidiary Parry Sugar Industries Ltd. with EID Parry will be soon completed,” managing director Ravindra S.Singhvi told IANS.
The restructuring is expected to reduce the cost of funding for these two units which has a combined cane crushing capacity of around 4,000 tonnes per day.
According to Singhvi, the company will be looking at the domestic market for sugar as the prices are better compared to international rates.
“We will be focusing on institutional and retail segments in the domestic market. Institutional sales account for nearly 45 percent of our sales while the branded sugar brings in around five percent,” he said.
Last quarter, the company exported 78,840 tonnes of sugar.
Queried about the status of the company’s sugar refinery at Kakinada, Singhvi said the process to source a coal-fired boiler for the power plant is on.
The refinery project, a joint venture between EID Parry and Cargill International, was shut down for want of natural gas for its power plant.
Asked about sales of bio-products, division head Sanjiv Menon told IANS: “The poor southwest monsoon affected the sales of bio pesticides. The other vertical of the division – nutraceuticals – is doing well.”
According to him, the US-based Valensa International acquired by EID Parry has turned around and was doing good.
Meanwhile, EID Parry closed the quarter ending Sep 30 with a turnover and net profit of Rs.502.66 crore and Rs.325.80 crore respectively up from Rs.415.01 crore and Rs.49.48 crore posted during corresponding period of the previous year.
The quantum jump in the net profit last quarter is attributed to the higher crushing, increased co-generation of power and higher sales of nutraceuticals.
About the company’s tie-up with New Holland Tractors, Singhvi said the company is in the process of developing technology for making the farm equipment.