Sugarcane arrears down at R6,225 crore

New Delhi, June 8: Sugarcane dues to farmers from mills, have come down to R6,225 crore in the ongoing sugar season.

Cane arrears had touched R21,000 crore in April of the 2014-15 sugar season (October September) as sugar prices were subdued due to surplus sugar production for last five years. “Sugarcane price arrears for sugar season 2015-16 have come down to R6,225 crore. As on today, about 87% cane dues have been paid for the season. During the same period of last year these dues were R19,437 crore," food ministry said in a statement.

Out of R6,225 crore cane arrears, Uttar Pradesh has a maximum share of R2,428 crore followed by R1,325 crore in K ar nat aka and R 883 cr ore in Maharashtra.

In the last one year, the government has taken several measures to improve liquidity position of sugar mills enabling them to clear cane prices dues to farmers.

The government had provided soft loan to millers to clear cane arrears. It also increased import duty to 40%, and offered export subsidy on raw sugar and a production subsidy to sugar mills to offset cost of cane price.

The government also promoted ethanol blending program (EBP).

India’s sugar production is estimated to be 25 million tonnes in 2015-16 season, as against 28.3 million tonnes in the previous year.