Expect prices to remain buoyant in FY10: Dhampur Sugar

Excerpts from Closing Bell on CNBC-TV18 Watch the full show » ALSO READ See latest News about Dhampur Sugar See previous management interviews See what other Experts & Brokerages are saying about Dhampur Sugar Nifty BSE | NSE 30/05/12 Are Mutual Funds betting on Nifty?

Q: We believe this crushing season could be a bit delayed though because of the unrest which is on in UP, in terms of FRP etc?
A: Surely we are hoping that we will be able to resolve with the farmers very soon. Crushing should be able to start within the next fortnight. But even last year we started at almost the end of this month. So, we expect to start all our factories at the end of this month again.
Q: You are sure there will be no dip in crushing from the 25 lakh tonne that you had this year?
A: Seeing the crop right now, seeing the sort of yields that you all are expecting to get, we all believe that we will be able to crush the same as what we did last year.
Q: The additional profit that you are talking about for next year compared to the year that you have just reported, is it purely because of the raw sugar conversion or do you expect realisations to be even higher than the Rs 28 that you got in the fourth quarter?
A: We do expect sugar prices to stay buoyant in this coming year. Raw will surely supplement the profitability. Also on the power side with our coal handling now coming on stream we all believe that our coal plant which this year only ran for about 160 days should be able to run close to 300 days next year.
Q: So what is a reasonable estimate, having done Rs 10.5 earnings this year what would be an early guess on what you could achieve this year?
A: It is still very early days. Let us see as to how this whole sugar season will pan out. We are not really forecasting our next year numbers either by way of profit or EPS. But we do believe that it will be substantially better than FY09.
Q: What is your own thought on where this whole FRP business stands because there is considerable confusion after what Sharad Pawar said about two weeks back?
A: This is the first year that FRP is there. So there will be some sort of confusion and a lot of things should be said. But I for sure believe that in the long run this is an excellent thing which has happened. This is exactly what we all were wanting. FRP is here to stay, even though this year we may pay a higher price or will pay a higher price for cane. But during years when sugarcane would be in excess, FRP would be the price that we all will pay for cane.
Q: Not just for levy quota but the entire amount?
A: As far as the note that we have read, we all are of the view that it is for the full sugar. But after the statements we all do believe that some sort of clarifications would be sought and would be made available to us in the coming days.