Sugar mills have paid nearly R53,000 crore to sugarcane farmers and over R5,800 crore was due till June of the 2012-13 marketing year ending September, the Lok Sabha was informed Tuesday.

In a written reply, food minister KV Thomas said the total cane price payable till June of the 2012-13 marketing year (October-September) stood at R58,806.97 crore and out of that mills had made payments to the tune of R52,895.94 crore.

Cane price arrears stood at R5,821.03 till June, which is about 10% of the total payable amount.

Mills in Uttar Pradesh, the leading sugar producing state, owes maximum to cane farmers at R4,234.60, the data showed. The cane price arrears in Maharashtra were almost nil.

The outstanding payment of sugar mills in Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Karnataka stood at R501.37 crore, R375.82 crore and R352.69 crore, respectively.

"The dues position changes continuously on account of fresh supplies received and payment made for previous supplies. As such, it is not possible to indicate the time by which dues are likely to be paid to the farmers," Thomas said while replying to a query on the deadline by which arrears of sugarcane growers would be cleared.

The minister also informed that the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966, stipulates payment of cane price within 14 days of supply, failing which interest at the rate of 15% annum is payable to farmers.

Sugar production in India, the world's second-largest producer and biggest consumer, is estimated at 25 million tonne in the 2012-13 marketing year. The annual domestic consumption is seen at 22 million tonne.