Dhampur Sugar Mills Limited (500119) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Audio Gap] Prabhudas Lilladher, I welcome you all to Q1 FY '21 Earnings Call of Dhampur Sugar Mills. I would thank the management of Dhampur Sugar for taking out time for today's con call. From the management side, we have Mr. Gaurav Goel, the Managing Director; Mr. Nalin Gupta, the CFO; Mr. Vinit Gupta, Chief GM, Finance; and Mr. Akshat Kapoor, GM, Finance. So I would request the management to discuss about the company's results. And then if you can discuss some key industry highlights for the first quarter, and then we'll start with the Q&A. Mr. Gaurav Goel, if you can take it forward from here?

Thank you so much, Prashant. Good afternoon, and a very warm welcome to all at Dhampur's Q1 FY '21 Conference Call. Our company during sugar season during the last year crushed a total of 75.73 lakh tonnes of sugarcane against 69 lakh tonnes that we had crushed in the previous year. The last 4 months during lockdown, Dhampur had all its plants running, and we would like to thank the government, both at the state and the center for the same. None of our plants got closed down during this lockdown period and our plants are still running as on date. COVID had slight impact on sugar offtake in the month of April and May. But from June onwards, the sugar offtake again came back to almost normal levels. Even on our supplies to the oil companies, April, May, we saw slight lower supplies due to petrol being lower in those 2 months. But from June onwards, again, it has come back to normal levels. I would now like to ask Nalin Gupta to take you through our numbers for Q1 FY '21. Nalin, over to you, please.

Thank you, sir. So again, welcome to all the participants. I'll take you through the financial performance. And after that, Mr. Akshat will take you through the operational performance, please. So our total revenues, EBITDA and PBT for Q1 FY '21 stood at INR 1,102 crores, revenues; INR 117.8 crores, profit before tax; and INR 71.9 crores, the profit before tax -- INR 117.8 crores was the EBITDA; as compared to revenue of INR 937 crores last year; EBITDA of INR 131.5 crores last year; and profit before tax, INR 79.9 crores in Q1 FY '20. Profit after tax from continuing operations stood at INR 54.2 crores in Q1 FY '21 against INR 62 crores in the same quarter last year. Profit after tax after discontinued operations stood at INR 54.8 crores in Q1 FY '21. Our interest cost stood at INR 26 crores during Q1 FY '21 as compared to INR 33.8 crores in Q1 FY '20. I'll take you through business-side performance, please. So for the quarter ended 30th June, 2020, the Sugar division reported revenues of INR 107 crores (sic) [ INR 1,007 crores ], which contributes around 77% of the total revenues as compared to INR 782 crores last year in the same period. EBIT in this segment stood at INR 35 crores as compared to INR 21.6 crores in the same quarter last year. Revenues from distillery section for Q1 FY '21 stood at INR 173.5 crores against INR 157 crores in the corresponding quarter last year. EBIT for distillery for Q1 FY '21 stood at INR 37.5 crores against INR 52.8 crores Q1 FY '20. During the period under review, Power revenues stood at INR 100 crores with EBIT of INR 34 crores in FY '21 as against revenues of INR 130 crores and EBIT of INR 51 crores in the Q1 FY '20. Power realization in FY -- Q1 FY '21 stood at INR 3.16 per unit against INR 5.18 per unit in the corresponding quarter last year. Lower revenues in this segment is mainly due to the reduction in power tariff. Company has made repayment of long-term loans in this quarter of INR 28 crores. Long-term loan stood as at 30th June, 2020, at INR 512 crores, which includes a soft loan of INR 212 crores and SDF loans of INR 60 crores. Now I would like to invite Akshat Kapoor, my colleague, to take you through the operational performance, please. Akshat, over to you.

Yes. Thank you, Nalin-ji. Good afternoon, friends. I would now like to take you through the operational performance of the company for the Q1 ended 30th June, 2020. Sugar sales for Q1 FY '21 stood at 2.73 lakh tonnes, including raw sugar sale of 0.92 lakh tonnes, as against 2.27 lakh tonnes, including raw sugar sale of 0.59 lakh tonnes in Q1 FY '20. Average sugar realization from domestic sale for Q1 FY '21 stood at INR 32.2 per kg as against INR 32.3 per kg in the corresponding quarter last year. The total inventory as on 30th June 2020 stood that 4.15 lakh tonnes of sugar valued at an average rate of INR 29.42 per kg. The company sold 222.1 lakh BL of ethanol and ENA, including 201.28 lakh BL of ethanol derived from B-Heavy at an average realization of INR 52.08 per BL during the Q1 FY '21; as against 316.10 lakh BL, including 130.68 lakh BL of ethanol derived from B-Heavy at an average realization of INR 46.14 per BL in the same quarter last year. The company during Q1 FY '21 sold 53.46 lakh kg of chemicals at an average realization of INR 54.29 per kg as against 15.47 lakh kg at an average realization of INR 53.1 per kg in Q1 FY '20. During the quarter ended 30th June 2020, Dhampur in its power segment generated 17.21 crores unit of power against 15.92 crores unit in the same quarter last year and exported 7.28 crores units in Q1 FY '21 against 8.14 crore units in same quarter last year. These are, on a broad level, our operational and financial numbers. Now I would like to invite the question and answer, if any.

[Operator Instructions] First question is from the line of [ S. Kapoor ] from [ Kapoor Company ].

First of all, I appreciate your company for putting up such a good show of result. Sir, I have just one question to ask. As far as shareholder rewarding policy is concerned, in sugar industry, there are only 2 veterans. And I'm a shareholder as well as an analyst of your company. And I'm a shareholder of Balrampur also. And I think these 2 companies, you are the most efficient company, Balrampur as well as Dhampur, both of you. So Balrampur has gone for rewarding its shareholder in the form of buyback. Sir, is there any plan as far as Dhampur Sugar is concerned that you would reward the shareholder by reducing your equity? Because this is a very cyclical industry, and this is a golden opportunity to reward the shareholders, and you are the biggest shareholder. So if you can throw some light on it, what is your view on it?

Thank you so much for your comments. As far as rewarding the shareholders, as the Board has always done for the last as many years, even for FY '21, whether it will be a dividend or a buyback, I will not be able to give a very clear answer on that. But both options will always be open to us. We, for surely, will be taking up the matter to the Board after, I would say, Q3 or Q4, and then the Board will finalize whether to reward it by way of dividend or by way of a buyback. So both options will stay open with the company as of now, but it will be up to the Board to actually tell us as to what they think is the right thing to be done.

So what has been our cost of funds, sir, average cost of funds?

So our average cost of funds is about 8.4%.

And this is -- sir, if you could give the granular details between the long-term ones with the subsidy and the working capital?

So basically, our working capital right now is at 8.3%. We've got 3 type of term loans. The 2, as what was spoken about, one is the soft loan, which is of -- from UP government. The rate of interest in that is 5%; our SDF loans are at an average of about 4.8%. And our other term loans, or long-term loans are in the range of about 8.4%.

So in totality, currently our cost of fund is 8.4%, actually, the average.

No, no. If you -- so if you will take just on the long-term loans, if we take the soft loans and our SDF loans, our rate will be around 7%.

Okay. And this -- there has been a revision downwards with the interest rates moving down. Has there been any revision?

No. So our rates are fixed for a period of 1 year. So the revision will happen only when the next year's proposal will go, which will happen at the end of the year. So our interest rates are fixed for 1 year.

Right, right. Sir, if we come to the PBIT in the chemicals segment, will you please explain the reason for the drop?

Absolutely. So the last year, the feedstock that was supplied from sugar to the chemical was at an average of INR 1,300 per tonne because that year, if you rely -- if you remember that '19 -- well, last year's price had crashed. This year, the same transfer pricing from sugar to our chemical division has been at about INR 4,000 per tonne. That is why you are seeing the margins coming down. So the profit has got transferred from chemical division to the sugar side. That is the only reason why you are seeing a lower margin. But our price, that was set because we had supplied more B-Heavy to the OMC, our price is an average of INR 52 per liter vis-à-vis INR 46 last year. So it is only the differentiation of the feedstock transfer pricing that the margins that you are seeing are lower.

Okay, sir. And the volume has been better.

No, the volume has been lower. So the volumes that we supplied to the OMC was lower. As I said, at the month of April and May, we all sold lower supplies to the OMC, but our chemical sale was higher. So that's why overall sales, you are seeing higher.

Right. Sir, you have also spoken about our diversion into the hand sanitizer segment also. So what kind of revenues have we done for the same in this quarter, sir?

So our total sales, I mean, in that was INR 3.5 crores, was the sale in that for these 3 months.

INR 3.5 crores?

[Foreign Language].

Okay. And what are the margins? And what is the expectation, sir, [Foreign Language] going forward? We must have done some study of what consistent revenue it could be. And it has also been mentioned that there is a good export market for hand sanitizer. So what is our game plan going forward for the hand sanitizer segment for the near and the medium term, sir?

We for surely plan to carry on with that segment. We all do believe that the demand in India will be coming down in the near future. So we saw the peak demand till June. Even though right now, the demand is buoyant, but what we have seen is that a lot of players have entered into this segment. Now the government is making new rules to make sure that these are done in the right manner. So a lot of these smaller players will go out. Export is also one area that we all are seeing for ourself. Exactly how big this business can be is very, very hard for us to say right now. We all are not sure because, in this, what we have to now do is start to develop our own capability to market. This is basically a retail product. So -- but we still believe that we will stay in this. But how large it can be in over the next 12 months is very, very hard to say right now. But because we all were able to do it without any CapEx, so that's why we will carry on as long as we are able to sell the product. We have no issue to manufacture more. The issue is on the sales side right now.

Okay. As you told that the OMCs were reluctant because of the lockdown for the blending one, blending purpose, what are our deliverables for the second quarter, sir? Maybe the ethanol, sir?

Yes. So basically, the second quarter as of now, the supply in July has been almost okay. We will have to see what sort of intents we get for the other 2 months, but it will be for surely better than the first quarter. But they will still -- I don't believe they will be 100%. We may touch about 85% of our total order that we all had got.

[Operator Instructions] Next participant is Sanjay Manyal from ICICI Direct.

Just a few questions. Firstly, what would be the farmers' arrears as of now for Dhampur?

Our total cane price arrears as on date is about INR 600 crores.

Okay. And considering the fact that you are holding some 4.2 lakh tonnes of inventory, when do you think that this inventory would be exhausted in the sense the sugar season '19, '20 inventory would be exhausted, considering the fact that you, even, I think, last 2, 3 months, were getting about 65,000 tonnes of domestic quota?

So we do believe that by January, we will be able to sell all of our sugar for last year.

Okay, okay. And sir, you mentioned about the volume in the distillery front. What I understand -- if I could recall, last quarter, you mentioned that you have been able to reroute the distillery, ethanol to other space or to other depots of OMCs, wherever the storage slack is there. And hence, there is a lot of big issue in terms of volume offtake. So what has exactly changed from that point to today?

No. So there is -- so there has been no change at all. It has been good for us that we were able to divert certain quantities from some depots to the others. That is why, as I said, that our offtake starting from June was better. And even as of July, August, we do believe that our offtake will be okay, but I don't believe it will be 100%. As I said earlier, I expect about 85% of our tender, the quantity is what we will be able to get as intents from the OMC, and that is mainly because of lower petrol being used right now. So about 85% is what I see the supply to happen in Q2, percentage.

Okay. And sir, just the last, the kind of crushing you have seen in this season, which is probably a very high number. And I believe, as you mentioned last time also, that there a lot Gur and Khandsari players who've probably shut their factories because of the lockdown, and that's why you had to crush higher cane. So will it be the similar number from an FY perspective in the sense FY '21 numbers would be pretty much same of your seasonal number?

Yes. So we all are seeing that planting is for surely very, very good in our area. Even as of now, the rainfall has been very, very good. So the yields may be better than even what we saw last year. So yes, for surely, we all are not seeing a lower crushing number for ourselves next year.

Okay. And sir, should we take the similar kind of an average, 60,000 tonnes or 55,000 tonnes monthly average domestic quota for the rest of the year?

Again, very, very hard to say on that. But yes, we should -- I mean, as I said, that we are expecting that this 4.15 lakh tonnes that we all have got, we will be able to sell this all vis-à-vis the quota that we get by January.

[Operator Instructions] Next question is from [ Nikhil Goel ] from [ Nishant Overseas ].

My question is, recently, the government has increased the MSP. But still, there is no notification is out from the government. Why it is delayed?

So basically, the GoM has given what they all have proposed that MSP to be hiked to INR 33. That has to go to CCEA, the -- to Cabinet. So that is still pending. I do believe that should happen extremely shortly. But when it is placed in CCEA, I really can't say, but it should happen within this coming month.

Okay. Okay. And second question is, what price Dhampur is selling sugar, at the Minimum Selling Price? Is it INR 31 or more than that?

No. So our average for -- if we see, our average for Q1 was INR 32.2, was our average price for Q1. For Q2, we all are seeing the price is slightly better because, April, May, the prices were low. So it should be in the range of INR 32.5 to INR 33, should be our average that we all do expect that we'll be able to get in Q2.

[Operator Instructions] Next participant is [ Prakash Shah ], an individual investor.

So I got one question sorted out for the MSP, the increase. Why government is delaying? Because I heard that it is going to be effective from the 1st of October, that is, from the next season. Is it true?

So that is, again, the -- that is exactly what even we've heard, and that is, I think, what was proposed in the GoM. So you are right on that, that, that is what is -- that is even what we have read through the press as of now, that it will be done from 1st 10/2020.

And secondly, what is the status on the power tariff petition that is being filed? Where we are now, like...

There is no hearing on that. So there has been no hearing on that for the last 4 months due to lockdown. So the case is just pending right now, and we all are still waiting for a date of hearing to be fixed. But again, that matter is pending, and it is -- still, no date has been finalized for the court hearing due to this lockdown.

Okay. So no information like in coming months also, I believe, because...

I don't expect anything over the next -- at least, I would say, 3 to 5 months, I don't expect any news on that side.

Okay. And then with this increase of MSP, there is also increase in sugarcane FRP, right?

Yes, that is, again, what has been proposed by CACP. They have proposed a INR 10 hike in cane price for next year.

And then again, there will be increase in stock price if the government goes in that way. So it -- definitely, it means that whatever increase in MSP will be done by the increase in sugar cane FRP. Again...

We for surely hope that -- we all for surely hope that because that is also what was proposed, is that the hike from INR 31 to INR 33 is for last year. And if any hike in cane price happens for FY '21 -- I mean, for sugar year '21, the MSP should be hiked in the same amount.

Okay. So you are justifying that this increase in MSP is for the next year or should be for the current year sugar inventory?

So what we have spoken, and we had a meeting also with Secretary, Food, just last week, in which we all told him that this price of INR 33 which was proposed is for last year's cane price. Any hike in cane price which happens in the future, the sugar selling price should be hiked up in the same amount. We will have to wait and watch when this proposal goes to CCEA as to what they will finalize at that point of time.

And then export quota. Like, what I was hearing that it will be good if government announces export quota from now onwards because Brazil will be in good condition to compete, if I'm not wrong, and plus the -- when the -- given the situation that is arriving for the next season, which is 30.5 million ton of sugar. Sir, what is your take on that? Will that be coming very soon? Or it will be again announced in the end of October? Or...

No, I for surely believe that the government is extremely proactive. And I do believe that the export for next year will be, I would assume, in the next 6 to 8 weeks, we all should hear that, hear it coming.

Okay. And we will be looking to export the same quantity? Is there any -- or will be in the larger quantity because, again, the inventory that is left, it is around 11.5 million tonnes. And then the production surplus will be another 4.5 million tonnes. What is your take on this?

We, for surely, Dhampur, will export the quota that we will get. That is for surely given. Whether we export more than that will be dependent on how many of the mills don't want to export and also seeing what are the global prices and what sort of money we will get from government. I think both these things will be extremely important for us to then say whether we want to export more than our quota also. Even for this year, we exported more than our quota. So next year, again, early for me to really say whether we'll be selling more or not. But I can for surely say that quota that we will get, that, for surely, we will be exporting. And we may then apply for further seeing what sort of pricing is there globally.

[Operator Instructions] Next question is from [ Saket Kapoor ] from [ Kapoor and Company ].

Sir, last year, we moved into the country liquor segment from our Dhampur facility. So what has been the contribution for this quarter? And what are our growth plans going forward, sir?

So CL is an area that we're all asking extremely closely. We all do believe that it will be a huge market for us. As of now, for the -- for Q1, we sold 90,000 cases of CL. For now, going forward in Q2, our target is at least to sell 1.5 lakh cases in these 3 months, which is from July till September, and to take it up to 1 lakh cases after that per month. And our target is to reach 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh cases per month by March.

And what has been the revenue, sir, contribution for this quarter? I think, sir, the mix is not provided in the presentation, if I'm not wrong.

Yes, our total country liquor sales for this quarter, I think, were around -- Nalin, they were about INR 28 crores, right?

That's around INR 27.5 crores. That's correct, INR 27.5 crores, INR 28 crores. Yes.

And what is the expected number for the next quarter? You must have done the math because I missed...

Again -- I mean, like -- how...

What is our endeavor? Yes, endeavor.

Yes. So we all are trying to reach a sale of about INR 35 crores.

INR 35 crores for this quarter.

Yes, for Q2.

For Q2 segment, right? Just a second, sir. Sir, if we take the way that the industry is positioned, it is the chemical ethanol segment only that will be the growth diver going forward as the MSP and the pricing of the sugar are generally getting tarnished with this hike in MSP and SAP. So going forward, our thrust of more contribution to the bottom line would be from the chemical, ethanol, this blend itself.

Yes. For surely, you see, that is, again, one of the most key segments for us as of now. We all do believe that there is a huge scope for us to even go further on that. Even on the sugar side, as I said earlier, we all have seen very good sugarcane planting in our area. Even on the sugar side, we will keep on growing. As we have the inbuilt capacity, we don't have to do any CapEx on that, but we will go on also growing. We will also grow on the sugarcane side and also on the chemical side.

And sir, for this quarter, the INR 28 crore was the liquor sale. What was the contribution to the PBT, sir, just from the liquor segment?

Again, out here, we have to see the CL PBT to be slightly separate because, as you know, that, otherwise, we had to supply to -- as per levy. The molasses, we had to give as levy. So if we take that, the contribution was extremely positive for the CL side, but we cannot compare it to the supplies that we do to the OMCs because that is from feedstock, while the CL is from levy stock.

Levy stock. So in this process, sir, are we going to cover the entire levy part and there will be no external sales, say, from March onwards? Or have we done any external sales, sir?

That is the whole plan. Yes. So as of now, we have sold ENA to CL manufacturers. The whole plan is that from April of 2021, we will use all of it for our own CL and we don't sell anything to outside. Out here, the biggest thing that we have to do is the marketing, is to create our brand. So our brands has started going all over UP, a slightly tough market. But as I said, by April 2021, we do want to reach 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh cases a month, which will take care my full levy I can use for my own self.

And what is our local brand, sir?

We've got about 4, 5 brands right now. So we have 5 brands which are running, and we are going to introduce 3 more brands next month.

Okay. Correct, sir. On the power side, sir, this will be an accrual-based business as has been because now the power tariffs have been fixed at -- for what period, sir, this INR 3...

Has been fixed for a period of 5 years till 2024.

Okay. So there will be a steady contribution with no exaggeration and INR 3.16 is fixed going forward. So we can -- as far as the production side, it will be contributing, sir, in a linear fashion.

Yes.

Sir, last year, in the September quarter, were there any one-off items or any reason for the dip in the profitability? I could not understand that. [Foreign Language]. Was there any negative factor that plays for the second prior quarter?

Last year?

Yes, sir.

I'm not sure of that. Nalin, do you remember?

I just wanted to understand whether there is a lag or negative factor that comes into play for this quarter? Or is it going to be a normal quarter as been the first quarter?

Yes. We all do believe that Q2 will also be a normal quarter for us.

It is on a comparative term with Q1, with the June '20 quarter.

Again, we'll have to see all our sales that happen. But yes, it is seeming to be, as of now, the last month has been okay. So Q2 should also be a good quarter for us.

Sir, the Cogencis reported that -- I mean, the center may set the cap for sugar that the mills can sell, and that's at 2.05 million tonnes, lower than 2.10 million, as the summer demand has waned. This is one of the senior government official release. So what is this going to -- how is it going to affect the sugar market?

No, the cap -- the season quota is always going to be -- it will range. 19 lakh to 21 lakh tonnes is where it will range month-on-month. So that is a range which has happened through history, and that is exactly what is carrying on even as of now. The August quota, which has come out 20.5 lakh tonnes, that is extremely fair. So it is not high or low. That is exactly what the demand is right now.

So this will have a cushion on the prices itself, sir?

The prices will stay stable. At 20.5 lakh tonnes, there is no reason for the prices to drop or to go up very, very high, either-or.

Correct, sir. And sir, for the finance in the segment revenue, if you could explain, sir, the unallocable expenses net of INR 9 crores for this quarter. Or how does one read into this number, sir?

These are again expenses which we cannot load onto the COP. So these are -- again, they all happen year-on-year and Q-on-Q.

COP, sir, I didn't get it.

On the -- Nalin, would you like to explain the unallocable...

Yes, sure. See, the directing cost which is attributable to the cost of production. So that will load on the production. So that is called the cost of production. There are some expenses which are not related to the production, so that, we cannot allocate on cost, like as some part of administrative costs, some part of head office expenses. So that comes under unallocable expenses which we cannot allocate over the cost of production.

Right, sir. And on the other segment... Yes, I got your point, sir. And under the other segment revenue of INR 22 crores, what does this constitute of -- about?

Which segment you're talking?

Under the segment revenue, under the others category, there is a revenue of INR 22 crores, INR 21.72 crores, and a PBIT of INR 15 lakhs.

Yes. So that includes the revenue of our subsidiaries.

Revenue of?

Subsidiaries. We have got 3 subsidiaries. So this includes mainly -- this revenue is pertaining to one of subsidiary, INR 21.72 crores.

And this is relating to power?

I mean not power. We have got 3 subsidiaries, 1 of which has been already been asked to disclose the operations. One subsidiary we have, DIPL, International Private Limited, that is 100% subsidiary. And another one is DETS Limited, which is 51% subsidiary. So this revenue is coming from these 2 subsidiaries, INR 21.72 crores. They are not into manufacturing operations.

Right, sir. Sir, just for the sake of explanation, if we move to your presentation of the distillery chemicals segment, there the financials are explained at -- this quarter revenue at INR 173 crore and PBIT at INR 37 crore. And you have explained that transfer pricing for the molasses at a higher price, that has led to sugar margins at higher elevated levels and lowering of the chemicals segment. If you could explain this chemicals apart -- between the production and the sale, why is the difference between the production and sale numbers over year-on-year? And the chemicals include the hand sanitizer and the country liquor?

Yes. So as Gaurav -- we already explained, last year, we had transfer pricing of our feedstock for distillery that was around INR 1,250. This year, this is INR 4,000 a tonne for C. And for B-Heavy, we have INR 8,000 a tonne in terms of pricing, right? So this difference in margin is due to the higher feedstock cost. Now as compared to last year, we have good ethyl acetate sales this year, so that is why you can see the revenue has gone up, but margins have reduced. And that margin has actually been shifted to the sugar segment because of the higher feedstock transfer pricing from sugar to chemical, distillery segment, right? Am I audible?

Yes, sir. You are audible. You continue first, then I will add.

So that is the main difference, due to the lower margin at chemicals, distillery segment. Is there anything else, please?

Sir, I was asking about this production number of...

Production number of?

Production number in the chemical segment in lakh kg is 45.84 and sales of 53.46. If you could just give the split-up, I will come in the queue, sir.

Yes. So this is basically because we also had opening stock. We all had the opening stock, so that's why you are seeing that even though we have produced lower, but we have sale -- but like, we have sold more is because of the opening stock that we had as of 1st of April.

And what is this chemical segment breakup part? Is this one chemical...

Ethyl acetate. So this is basically ethyl...

Only ethyl...

Yes.

[Operator Instructions] Next question is from [ Deepak Mehta ], an individual investor.

Sir, my question is that, as we know, due to this agriculture reform, do you think there will be a shift from the sugarcane farming to other goods, such as fruits and vegetable and anything else, such as pulses? Do you see any significant changes in long term?

No, we are not seeing any change in that because a study was also done by us and by ISMA is that sugarcane is still the best-paying crop to the farmer. And that is why even if we see that with such huge cane price arrears that we have seen over the last as many years, sugarcane crop hasn't come down. So as long as sugarcane is the best-paying crop vis-a-vis any other crop, we all are not seeing any change in planting pattern happening in the near future.

Okay. And is there any -- if you can throw some light, is there -- will there be any impact of this grasshopper attack on sugarcane?

No. So thankfully for us, this Tiddi which it is called, didn't come close to any of our areas. So we had no impact of that. We were extremely worried in May when it started. But thankfully, it did not come anywhere close to any of our areas.

Next question is from Shivani Mittal from Dalmia Securities.

So sir, I had 2 questions. Number one is that, how has the bagasse revenue panned out for us? And if you could, your quarter-on-quarter comparison, it would be great.

Yes. Okay. So basically, bagasse stock for us was higher than last year because of -- mainly because we exported lower amount of sugar and we crushed higher cane. So our bagasse stock, Nalin, as of 30th June, was how much in 5 of our plants?

As on 30th June, it was 1.04 lakh tonnes against 0.22 lakh tonnes last year as on 30th June '19.

Okay, okay. And how about the revenues in that segment, like per tonne?

So out there, basically, that -- bagasse, we all are not selling as of now. That bagasse is used to run our chemical boiler.

We are not diverting anything in the open market for your -- like, what is...

As of now, no. As of now, we all are keeping it in our stock. We for surely will [Audio gap] and see as to how much of surplus we have after, say, end of August, and then we all might sell anything in the open market. Last year, we had to buy coal and bagasse from outside. Right now, we have got sufficient available in-house, so we don't have to buy any fuel from outside.

Got it. Got it. And sir, I think in the last con call, you mentioned that we are looking for the trial for ethanol produced by sugarcane juice. So are we like -- where are we in terms of that? Or are we going to supply to in season -- in the coming quarters?

So again, Shivani, tough for us to say right now. But seeing the surplus sugarcane that we are seeing in India by next year, we may do a trial for 10 or 12 days, but we don't plan to supply any large quantity as of now out of sugarcane juice, at least for FY '21. So we will stick to B-Heavy, but we may do trials. We wanted to do trials also last year, and we had tendered for certain quantity out of sugarcane juice. But because of some issues of policy, we weren't able to do that trial.

Next question is from [ Saurabh Ginodia ] from [ SMI Limited ].

Sir, I have 2 questions. One is on the recovery for the next year. What kind of recovery improvement do you expect for the next season? And second, I just wanted to get an understanding on the international sugar prices from your side.

So again, very, very hard to say right now as to what sort we will expect next year. But for surely, we should improve than what we have done this year mainly because we ran our plants for a longer period of time. Two of our plants also had slightly more breakdowns than what we all would have liked, on which we all have already -- on which we are working on. So it should improve. Exactly how much, very, very early to say. Perhaps after -- that, we will know once the plants really start, and we see all the sucrose that is there in the cane. But the cane crop, as I said, even earlier, is extremely healthy as the rainfall has been very, very good. So that is on the first part. As far as the global prices of sugar go, they are hovering around $0.115 to $0.12 right now. And that, I believe, should be the range also going forward, seeing that Brazil has -- is making far, far more sugar than what was expected. So I don't believe that global prices will go up very, very high, but I also don't believe that they will come down. Because in case global prices were to come down, then Brazil will start to move away from sugar. So I think this is the sort of range that I'm seeing for the next 1, 2, 3 months right now.

Next question is from [ Prakash Shah ], an individual investor.

Actually, I wanted to ask, as our sugar production from UP was higher than the Maharashtra one, but it is not reflecting in the sales quota that has been allotted, right? Definitely because Maharashtra did produce only 5.5 lakh and then UP did produce 12.3 lakh. But the sales allocation or the sales quota that had been given to UP is very less. It's almost similar to what we are doing last year when we did 37% in UP and 35% in Maharashtra. So how we are going to justify this? Are we looking to take this matter with the government?

Again, for government, when they give quotas, they also see exactly the region-wise demand, which like is there. So I think they have balance out quite a few factors when they finalize a monthly quota. Overall, I mean, from my perspective, I think that they've been pretty fair, overall, when we see that they have to balance out every state. There are some states which are in deficit, certain states which are in surplus. So overall, I think that it has been balanced out really well right now. So I really would like to compliment Government of India to -- for them to try and be fair to all sides.

Okay. And sir, bagasse, because bagasse has lots of products in the market. There are lots of recyclable, renewable products. Are we looking to venture bagasse-made products? Or -- if we are not getting fair remunerative from the power segment. So there will be any look into this? Or...

We have already started exploring the possibilities of how we can take further bagasse, and perhaps we can use it to make any other products. So yes, a study is being done even as we speak on what are the other options that we have for -- as to what we can do with bagasse in case we don't want to produce power out of it. So that study is on as we speak.

Ladies and gentlemen, before we end the call, I would like to mention that certain statements in this call could be forward-looking in nature and are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Such statements are based on management's beliefs as well as assumptions made by information currently available to the management. As there are no further questions, I will now hand the conference over to Mr. Gaurav Goel for closing comments.

Thank you so much. On behalf of everyone at Dhampur, I would like to thank you all for taking out your time to be on this call with us. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us either by phone or by e-mail. I would like to thank you all once again for being on the call with us. Thank you very, very much.

Thank you, everyone.

Thank you very much.