During the quarter, total expense rose 70.7% to Rs 131.98 crore. Cost of raw material consumed increased 14.5% to Rs 93.21 crore while employee cost rose 10.8% to Rs 5.15 crore.

Net cash from operating activities rose 8.19% to Rs 24.17 crore in 6 months ended 30 September 2022 compared with the same period last year.

"The worst worrisome years of successive drought have thankfully been behind us and our operational area, like the rest of Tamil Nadu, benefitted by copious monsoon showers in the last two years. Fortified further by the full storage in the Mettur reservoir that feeds our sugarcane area and our proactive promotional efforts through planting subsidy, there has been a strident surge in sugarcane cultivation. As a result, sugarcane crushing for the quarter touched an all time high ever since the start of our sugar mill," the company said in a statement.

"Sugar off-take was brisk, while power production and export were at its peak. On several of the operating parameters, we have scaled to a new high in the current quarter - from top-line to bottom-line," it added.

The company stated that Indian sugar production estimated for 2022-23 season would again be a new record, sustaining the current phase of unending surplus. The ethanol blend program is going well that would subsume about 45 lac tonnes of sugar this season. There should thus be a fine demand-supply parity, holding sugar prices stay stable.

The company said it is reasonably confident to carry forward and sustain its good show in HY2. Barring imponderables, FY 2022/23 would be yet another year of comforting performance, it said.

Ponni Sugars (Erode) is a producer of sugar, catering to both domestic and international markets.