Early crushing to bridge sugar supply deficit, says minister
With many sugar mills planning to start cane crushing early this year, pre- season supply would take care of supply deficit in some parts of the country, said C R Choudhary, minister of state for food & public distribution, here on Friday.
For the first time, sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh have decided to start cane crushing in October. Mills in the largest sugar producing state usually crush in November, when standing crops mature. In Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, however, mills start crushing by mid-October.
A recent survey by the apex industry body, Indian Sugar Mills Association, said sugar mills’ output would be 800,000 tonnes in October. Such an output would set a new monthly record this year.
Speaking on the sidelines of a three-day conclave that started on Friday, Choudhary said the government’s focus was to make India an exportoriented sugar economy, rather than an import- oriented one.
The government’s main objective was to ensure full and timely payments to sugarcane farmers. “Sugar mills were accumulatively holding cane arrears of ~21,837 crore in 2014, of which 99 per cent have been paid to farmers so far. Some more is due for crushing season 2016 and 2017. The government is working to get this amount cleared,” said Choudhary.
Farmers have to be paid adequately to make sugarcane remunerative and to also ensure they do not switch to other crops like oilseeds and pulses, he said. Agrarians had switched to crops that fetched higher prices during the previous season.
Choudhary said the government was faced with three major challenges — ensuring timely and realistic fair and remunerative price to farmers, mills make adequate profit and consumers get the commodity at affordable prices. “The government is monitoring wholesale and retail prices of sugar on a daily basis. We found that the wholesale price stood at ~35 a kg and the retail price at ~44 a kg. Why such a vast difference? We found that retailers are building stocks and not releasing adequate quantity.” To address the problem, the government had levied stock limits on mills in September and October. November will see fresh supplies.