The government has decided to release 10.4 million tonnes (mt) of sugar for sale on open market in the next six months starting from April 1 by mills across the country. This is 0.6 million tonnes less than the 11 mt released by the government for sale on open market in the preceding six months that started in October 2012.

According to an official statement, the non-levy (free-sale) sugar would be apportioned and released only among those sugar mills which had submitted online production returns at the time of release.

The statement also said that any unsold free-sale quota for October to March would not be available for sale in the first half of the next financial year.

"Mills can sell the entire 10.4 mt of sugar allocated for April to September as per their requirement without any restriction," a senior official said.

The government has also released 3,69,000 tonnes of levy sugar for meeting requirements of the public distribution system for April-May 2013.

Reacting to the decision, Abinash Verma, Director General, Indian Sugar Mills Association, said the industry welcomed the government's decision.

"This will give flexibility to the mills to plan their cash flows. The decision not to convert any unsold non-levy quota into levy and also not have any inter-month restrictions on six-monthly quota are important steps towards reforming the sugar sector," Verma said.