MANILA, Philippines - Listed sugar miller Central Azucarera de Tarlac reported a 38-percent increase in net income to P53.54 million in the first nine months of its fiscal year ending March 31 from P39.79 million a year ago.
The company attributed the expansion to the 71 percent decrease in finance cost for the period.
For the first nine months of its fiscal year, the company generated revenues of P722.36 million, up 5.28 percent from P686.138 million in the same period the previous fiscal year.
Higher sales volume of alcohol and carbon dioxide offset the drop in sales volume and average selling price of raw sugar.
For the first three quarters of the milling season, the company hauled 769, 729 tons of cane, up 1.83 percent from the same period the previous year.
Sugar recovery was also higher by 13.29 percent at 1.880 50-kilogram bags per ton of cane against 1.660 a year ago. This was attributed to good weather conditions prevailing during the milling season and better quality of canes.
The combination of higher tonnage and recovery resulted in a 15.37-percent increase in raw sugar output to 1.44 million 50-kilogram bags for the period from 1.23 million the previous year.
The increase in tonnage also hiked the production of molasses to 6.22 million gallons, 19.67 percent or 1.02 million gallons higher than the previous 5.20 million gallons.
The recovery rate of molasses rose to 8.08 gallons per ton of cane from 6.88 gallons per ton of cane.
During the period, the distillery was able to process 1.98 million gallons of molasses, down 28.10 percent or 775, 513 gallons from 2.75 million in the previous year. Recovery, however, rose by 3.32 percent at 1.634 liters of alcohol per gallon of molasses processed against 1.58 the previous year.
As a result, the company’s alcohol production fell 25. 71 percent to 3.24 million liters.