New Delhi, November 29 As sugarcane belts across the country simmered and the situation turned ugly in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri, resulting in a clash between farmers and mill owners, the Indian Sugar Manufacturers Association (ISMA) raised a red herring about "lower than normal" sugar production this year while farmers demanded clearing of their dues by tomorrow.
A statement issued by the Bharatiya Kisan Union threatened to lift sugar if farmers' payments were not made. "If private owners do not want to run mills, the state governments should take these over," farmers said.
The ISMA said most of the sugar mills across the country had been facing problems due to high sugarcane prices fixed by respective states. Sugar production up to November-end this year has been 8 lakh tonne, which is substantially lower than 24.4 lakh tonne produced during the last season up to same time.
The Sharad Pawar-led informal group of ministers is expected to take a call on the demands of the sugar industry early next week upon the minister's return to the Capital on December 1. It may offer interest-free loans, higher duty on imports, incentives for exporters and buffer stock.
Though the UP government has given millers a deadline of December 4, ISMA managing director Abhinash Varma said most of the mills, including those in relatively lesser known cane-growing regions of Punjab and Haryana, were facing problems due to higher sugarcane rates fixed by respective states.
Crushing had not begun in Uttarakhand and the situation was not good in Punjab and Haryana, he added.
None of the seven private mills in Punjab had started crushing till now and the situation was similar in the three private mills in the neighbouring Haryana.
In 2012-13, all 10 private mills in Haryana and Punjab had started functioning by this date and the ISMA says this reflects the fact that private mills were finding it difficult to pay the SAP-Rs 275/280/290 per quintal and Rs 290/296/301 per quintal fixed by Punjab and Haryana, respectively, depending upon the quality.
As on date, one of the nine cooperative mills of Punjab and six of the 11 in Haryana had started crushing. "The cooperative mills get help from the state, so they can afford to pay higher prices," says Varma. The delay in crushing is affecting production, he says.
As compared to 400 sugar mills which were crushing sugarcane at the end of November 2012, only 208 sugar mills have started crushing operations till now in this season.