Sugar mills on debt reduction spree

Most sugar mills retire part of their debt, squeeze in margins on high cane cost

The improved cash flow due to a sharp increase in sugar prices has helped mills to reduce their debt and improve profitability in the financial year 2016-17.

While most sugar mills have reduced their debt over the last two years, their borrowings continued to be substantially higher than the net worth thereby disappearing net profit on high-interest cost. This simply indicates that sugar mills would continue to face challenges in debt servicing. A number of sugar mills, including Empee Sugars and Kesar Enterprises, have their negative net worth as per Capitaline data.

Data compiled by Capitaline showed Shree Renuka Sugars