The Centre on Wednesday has approved a Rs 5, 500 crore package for the country’s sugar sector that includes a two fold jump in production assistance to cane growers and transport subsidy to mills for export of nearly 50 lakh tonnes in the marketing year 2018-19.
Seeking more sops National Federation of Cooperative millers said, a soft loan of Rs 10,000 crore would help the country’s millers tide over the current problem of short margins and the financial distress.
According to Dilip Walse Patil, president of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories, almost all sugar factories were facing the problem of ‘short margins’.
Under the new comprehensive policy to deal with the excess sugar production in the country, the ministry has recommended offsetting the cost of cane to sugar mills by increasing the production assistance paid to growers at Rs 13.88 per quintal for the marketing year 2018-19 from Rs 5.50 per quintal earlier.
The ministry is likely to help mills export 50 lakh tonnes under the Minimum Indicative Export Quota (MIEQ) by compensating expenses towards internal transport, freight, handling and other charges. Patil pointed out that with an opening stock of 105 lakh tonnes for the season, an estimated production of 335 lakh tonnes which comes up to 440 lakh tonnes. The domestic consumption of 250 lakh tonnes would leave around 180 lakh tonnes which could depress the country’s sugar market.
Maha cane season to be stormy
Maharashtra’s cane season is all set for a stormy start. The state government on Tuesday declared October 20 as the official start for the season.
Farmer body Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana will hold its annual cane meet at Jaisinghpur near Kolhapur where Kolhapur MP Raju Shetti will declares the first installment of cane payment expected by the farmers from sugar millers in Maharashtra.
Raju Shetti told FE that the farmer body will not allow the sugar mills to commence crushing on October 20 unless there is clarity on the first installment of the cane payment to the farmers.