Govt releases 2.45 m tonnes sugar for March; fixes sugar mill-wise stock limit

The central government last week issued an order prescribing a higher quota of 2.45 million tonnes for release into domestic market in March 2019 and fixing a monthly stock holding limit for individual sugar mills for the month.

The ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution in a release said the hike in the quota has been prescribed in view of a pattern of higher sales around this time of the year.

Sales/dispatches of sugar from mills stood at around 2.35 million tonnes during February 2018.

Besides, sugar industry has recently been advised to go for advance booking of sugar sales to bulk consumers. It is also to be noted that the government has only recently increased the minimum selling price of sugar (MSP) from Rs29 to Rs31 pet kg. The increase is meant to provide an opportunity to mills to realise maximum revenue from sales at enhanced MSP to improve their liquidity to clear cane price arrears of farmers, it said.

With the Sugar Price (Control) Order, 2018 being in vogue, sugar mills cannot sell their sugar at ex-mill price which is below MSP and any violation of the same would attract severe penal action under the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. Hence, any apprehension about excess allocation of sugar for domestic sale under the stock holding limit order for the month of March, 2019 is unwarranted.

The centre with a view to manage the situation of surplus production in the country and to stabilise the sugar prices with a view to clear cane price arrears of farmers has been implementing the Sugar Price (Control) Order, 2018 along with imposition of stock holding limits on sugar mills.