Home›Calculators›Milling break-even & profit
Free calculator · no signup

Rice mill break-even & monthly profit calculator

A mill has the same rent, interest and salaries whether it runs or stands idle. This shows the monthly volume where your earnings per quintal finally cover them — and what a month at your real utilisation leaves you.

The calculator

Pre-filled for a 2-tonne-an-hour mill running 10 hours a day. Change the capacity, the fixed costs and the per-quintal costs to your own. Use the chips for custom milling, your own buy-and-sell, or a small 1-tonne mill.

How the break-even is worked out

Earned per qtl = milling charge (or margin) + by-product income − running cost per qtl

Break-even volume = fixed costs per month ÷ earned per qtl

Running costs are the ones that rise with every quintal: power, labour paid by the load, consumables. Fixed costs arrive regardless: salaries, loan EMI, rent, insurance and licences. Every quintal you mill contributes its earning towards the fixed pile, and the mill is in profit only once the pile is covered.

Why utilisation decides the year

Break-even is usually a larger share of capacity than owners expect. If a mill needs 55% of its capacity just to cover fixed costs and runs at 65%, then a few idle weeks — a late paddy season, a breakdown, a delayed allotment — flip the month from profit to loss. That is why the number to watch is not the profit on a good day but the gap between your actual utilisation and your break-even utilisation.

This is the picture for a typical month. MillSaathi works it out from your real weighments and bills, month by month, so you see where you actually sit against break-even instead of estimating it.

Common questions

What is the break-even point for a rice mill?+

It is the monthly paddy volume at which what you earn per quintal, after running costs, exactly covers your fixed monthly costs. Below it the mill loses money, above it every extra quintal adds profit. The calculator finds it from your capacity, fixed costs, power and labour.

What capacity utilisation is normal for a rice mill?+

Mills seldom run flat out; field studies of Indian rice mills have found utilisation well below full capacity, and 60–75% is a common working assumption. Use your own last-season figure, because the gap between that and your break-even utilisation is what keeps you safe.

What should I enter as milling charge?+

For government custom milling, enter the charge in your agreement or state policy — these are small, roughly ₹10–25 a quintal, and set by the state. If you buy paddy and sell rice on your own account, enter the spread between your rice value and your paddy cost, before processing costs.

Is this calculator free?+

Yes. There is no signup, nothing is sent to a server, and MillSaathi itself is free with unlimited users.

Will the core features always be free?+

Core features will always be free. Core mill workflows will not be moved behind a paid plan. Optional future extras and the separate mill website service may be paid.

See where your own quintals go.

Follow a working mill day: gate entry, weighment, lab quality, sauda, stock and processing. Explore the demo, then set up your mill. Core features will always be free.