Tk 606 cr loss incurred by
selling Tk 206 cr sugar

Scenario of govt sugar mills

Mahfuja Mukul: Over Tk 606 crore loss incurred by selling sugar for only Tk 206 crore annually. This picture is of Shampur Sugar Mill, a state-owned company listed on the stock exchanges. The company is losing three times or more of the amount that is being sold year after year. There have even been nearly six times higher losses been incurred.
The picture of Zhil Bangla Sugar Mills, another government-owned listed sugar mill on the stock exchange, is very similar. According to the latest published annual financial report, the company has sold Tk 36 crore. On the other hand, the loss has been Tk 56 crore. Like Shampur Sugar Mill, this company is also counting more losses than sales year after year.
Not only these two companies listed in the stock market, more than a dozen state-owned sugar mills are thus incurring losses year after year. Economists say such losses from state-owned sugar mills are unusual. They say that the companies are making losses due to inefficiency and corruption. The government should give the institutions to the private sector without counting the losses for a long time.
Meanwhile, the people involved in the organization say that the reason for the loss is that the cost of running the organization is increasing. Besides, due to having bank loan, interest has to be paid every year. All in all, there is a loss.
Reviewing the data, it is seen that the sales amount of Shampur Sugar Mill in the financial year 2019-20 is Tk 206 crore 79 lakh 90 thousand. In contrast, the company’s after-tax loss in the financial year stood at Tk 708 crore 92 lakh 10 thousand. Earlier, in the financial year 2018-19, the loss was Tk 931 crore 44 lakh 10 thousand against the sale of Tk 131 crore 52 lakh 60 thousand. In the financial year 2016-17, the loss was Tk 479 crore 9 lakh 40 thousandagainstthe sale ofTk 143 crore 7 lakh 80 thousand.
In the 2016-17 financial year, the loss was Tk 346 crore 82 lakh 40 thousand against the sale of Tk 234 crore 8 lakh 50 thousand.
Similarly, Zhil Bangla Sugar Mill sold Tk 36 crore 6 lakh 26 thousand in the year 2019-20. This year the loss of the company wasTk 56 crore 21 lakh 29 thousand. In the previous financial year 2018-19, the company incurred a loss of Tk 72.34 crore. At that time the total sales amount was Tk 26.74 crore.
Earlier, in the financial year 2016-17, the loss was Tk 46 crore 49 lakh 3 thousand. The amount of sales during the period under review was Tk 26 crore 19 lakh 34 thousand. In the financial year 2016-17, the sales of the company wasTk 26 crore 33 lakh 14 thousand. The loss in the year wasTk 26 crore 71 lakh 92 thousand. In the financial year 2015-16, the loss was Tk 33 crore 60 lakh 16 thousand. The amount of sales that year was Tk 22 crore 74 lakh 9 thousand.
In addition to these two listed companies, Panchagarh Sugar Mill, Thakurgaon Sugar Mill, Setabganj Sugar Mill, Rajshahi Sugar Mill, North Bengal Sugar Mill, Natore Sugar Mill, Pabna Sugar Mill, Kushtia Sugar Mill, Mobarakganj Sugar Mill and Faridpur Sugar Mill are in loss list of the year.
Of this, Panchagarh Sugar Mill incurred a loss of Tk 482.38 crore in the year 2019-20. Besides, it incurred a loss of Tk 620 crore 8 lakh in the financial year 2018-19, Tk 545 crore 81 lakh 90 thousand in the financial year 2017-18, Tk 338 crore 96 lakh 10 thousand in the financial year 2017-18 and Tk 302 crore 84 lakh 10 thousand in the financial year 2015-16.
Thakurgaon Sugar Mill incurred a loss of Tk 83.44 crore in the financial year 2019-20. The company has paid Tk 697 crore 8 lakh 90 thousand in 2018-19 financial year, Tk 617 crore 14 lakh 60 thousand in 2016-17 financial year, Tk 423 crore 26 lakh 80 thousand in 2016-17 financial year and Tk 417 crore 22 lakh 90 thousand in 2015-16 financial year incurred loss respectively.
Setabganj Sugar Mill incurred a loss of Tk 480 crore 8 lakh 40 thousand in the financial year 2019-20.
Rangpur Sugar Mill incurred a loss of Tk 529.46 crore in the financial year 2019-20. The company has incurred loss of Tk 808 crore 24 lakh 80 thousand in 2018-19 financial year, Tk 513 crore 3 lakh 60 thousand in 2016-17 financial year, Tk 36 crore 8 lakh 90 thousand in 2016-17 financial year and Tk 260 crore 35 lakh 90 thousand in 2015-16 financial year.
Rajshahi Sugar Mill incurred a loss of Tk 691.34 crore in the financial year 2019-20. The company has posted loss of Tk 639 crore 51 lakh 40 thousand in the financial year 2018-19, Tk 748 crore 59 lakh 10 thousand in the financial year 2017-18, Tk 720 crore 11 lakh 40 thousand in the financial year 2016-17 and Tk 417 crore 16 lakh 40 thousand in the financial year 2015-16.
North Bengal Sugar Mills incurred a loss of Tk 61 crore 8 lakh 90 thousand in the year 2019-20. The company incurred a loss of Tk 945 crore 80 lakh in the financial year 2018-19, Tk 712 crore 36 lakh 60 thousand in the financial year 2017-18, Tk 8 crore 30 lakh 90 thousand in the financial year 2016-17 and Tk 474 crore 94 thousand in the financial year 2015-16.
Natore Sugar Mill incurred a loss of Tk 808.95 crore in the financial year 2019-20. Besides, loss of Tk 741 crore 59 lakh 60 thousand in the financial year 2018-19, Tk 691 crore 29 lakh 50 thousand in the financial year 2017-18, Tk 555 crore 1 lakh 50 thousand in the financial year 2016-17 and Tk 406 crore 26 lakh 10 thousand in the financial year 2015-16.
Pabna Sugar Mill incurred a loss of Tk 654.69 crore in the financial year 2019-20. The company has also incurred loss of Tk 604 crore 8 lakh 30 thousand in 2018-19 financial year, Tk 709 crore 94 lakh 50 thousand in 2016-17 financial year, Tk 526 crore 24 lakh 30 thousand in 2016-17 financial year and Tk 36 crore 81 lakh 90 thousand in 2015-16 financial year.
Joypurhat Sugar Mill incurred a loss of Tk 601.35 crore in the financial year 2019-20. Besides, the company incurred a loss of Tk 69.63 crore in the financial year 2018-19, Tk 560 crore 81 lakh 10 thousand in the financial year 2016-17, Tk 403 crore 98 lakh 60 thousand in the financial year 2016-17 and Tk 483 crore 81 lakh in the financial year 2015-16.
Kushtia Sugar Mill incurred a loss of Tk 619.36 crore in the financial year 2019-20. The company has also incurred loss of Tk 617 crore 81 lakh 10 thousand in the financial year 2018-19, Tk 57 crore 2 lakh 30 thousand in the financial year 2017-18, Tk 522 crore 44 lakh 60 thousand in the financial year 2016-17 and Tk 362 crore 84 lakh 90 thousand in the financial year 2015-16.
Mobarakganj Sugar Mill incurred a loss of Tk 74.48 crore in the financial year 2019-20. Besides, Tk 925 crore 36 lakh 10 thousand in 2018-19 financial year, Tk 845 crore 3 lakh 90 thousand in 2016-17 financial year, Tk 359 crore 15 lakh 20 thousand in 2016-17 financial year and Tk 361 crore 24 lakh 40 thousand in 2015-16 financial year losses have been incurred by the mill.
Faridpur Sugar Mill incurred a loss of Tk 638.17 crore in the financial year 2019-20. The company has also incurred loss of Tk 603 crore 92 lakh 60 thousand in 2018-19 financial year, Tk 56 crore 92 lakh 60 thousand in 2017-18 financial year, Tk 563 crore 55 lakh 60 thousand in 2016-17 financial year and Tk 362 crore 83 lakh 90 thousand in 2015-16 financial year.
Shafinaz Umme Rumana, company secretary of Shampur Sugar Mills, told that the operating expenses (operating expenses of the company) are much higher. One kg of sugar is sold at a much lower cost than it costs to produce. Moreover, the company has huge bank loans.
That is why interest is being added every year. Another reason is that our threshing activities have been suspended as per the government decision. That’s why we provided the surrounding match. This has increased the cost of transportation. All in all, this is a losing mill.
Abdul Gafur Mia, company secretary of Zhil Bangla Sugar Mill, told that there are production costs, government loans and theirhuge amount of bank loans. All these combined have caused us losses.
Former caretaker government adviser and prominent economist AB Mirza Azizul Islam told that the loss was three times higher than the sales – it was unusual. All the old factories. Sugarcane quality is poor, so sugar production is low. Can’t sell on time again. This situation combines various forms of corruption and inefficiency. I think all these should be left to the private sector.
Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) research director Khandaker Golam Moazzem told that the loss-making sugar mills could be arranged for alternative industrialization through Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA) or Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA). In this case, foreign investment or domestic investment may be in the joint venture of BEZA or BEPZA.
If anyone wants to set up a sugar factory here, it can be done. But instead of relying solely on the sugar mills (where the sugar mills are located) agro processing, such activities can be based on food processing areas.