REFERENCE
Glossary
Definitions follow the issuing authority's own wording wherever one exists. Where usage differs between government and industry, both are noted.
- B-heavy molasses
- Molasses drawn off before the final crystallisation stage, retaining more fermentable sugar — and therefore costing sugar output.About 95 kg of sugar and 21.75 litres of ethanol per tonne of cane, against 115 kg of sugar on the C-heavy route.
- C-heavy molasses
- The final residue after all economically recoverable sugar has been crystallised. Ethanol from it costs no sugar.
- Crore / lakh
- One lakh is 100,000; one crore is 10 million. A crore litre is therefore 10 million litres.
- DDGS
- Distillers' Dried Grains with Solubles — the protein residue of grain ethanol, sold as animal feed.Sells at roughly Rs 16,000–19,000 a tonne, undercutting soybean de-oiled cake.
- Direct cane juice
- Cane juice or syrup fermented without crystallising any sugar at all — about 84 litres of ethanol per tonne of cane, and no crystal.
- Diversion
- Sugar-equivalent output forgone because cane or its intermediates were routed to ethanol instead of crystal sugar.
- ESY
- Ethanol Supply Year, running 1 November to 31 October — deliberately offset from the sugar season (October–September).The two calendars overlap but are not identical. A figure quoted for "2025-26" means different months depending on which one is meant.
- FRP
- Fair and Remunerative Price — the statutory minimum a mill must pay a farmer per quintal of cane, set annually by the Centre.Rs 355 per quintal for sugar season 2025-26 at 10.25% recovery, with Rs 3.46 for each additional 0.1 point of recovery.
- LMT
- Lakh Metric Tonnes. One LMT = 100,000 tonnes = 0.1 million tonnes. The standard unit for Indian sugar balances.
- MSP (sugar)
- Minimum Selling Price — the floor below which mills may not sell sugar ex-factory. Distinct from crop MSP.Unchanged at Rs 31/kg since February 2019. Industry has sought Rs 39–42/kg.
- Over-exploited block
- An administrative block where annual groundwater extraction exceeds annual recharge — CGWB's most severe category.
- Recovery rate
- The percentage of a tonne of cane that a mill actually converts into sugar. The FRP is set at a 10.25% benchmark and adjusted above and below it.
- Sugar season
- The sugar marketing year, running October to September. Production, diversion and stock figures on this site are on the sugar season unless an ESY is named.
- TRQ
- Tariff Rate Quota — a fixed volume permitted at reduced or zero duty. The August 2026 window covered 10 LMT.