The Centre is likely to ask states to carry out random visits to sugar mills and trading companies to check their stockpiles.Sources said the government may resort to imposing stock limits on sugar producers, if there is shortage in supply to open market in future.
TOI has learnt that the food ministry has kept all these options open to ensure that there is no shortage in availability of the sweetener and mills and traders don't create artificial shortages.
Concerned about increasing sugar prices, the Prime Minister's Office had held a review meeting last week.
Only last week, the apex body of sugar producers, Indian Sugar Mills Association, had revised its production estimate from the earlier 23.5 million tonnes to 21.4 million tonnes for this year, which is the lowest in seven years. The estimate has been lowered as drought in Maharashtra and Karnataka has reduced cane harvest.
The food ministry sticks to its estimate of nearly 22.5 million tonnes. It has asked the state cane commissioners to collect mill-wise sugar yields instead of taking the state average while estimating sugar output to check if mills are under-reporting.