Maharashtra mills seek bailout as sugar prices fall

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, December 17
A sharp fall in the prices of sugar has sent Maharashtra’s influential co-operative barons scurrying to the government for a bailout package.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the federation of sugar mills in the state has demanded subsidies to the tune of Rs 700 per tonne after the sudden fall in prices.
Data available from the Indian Sugar Mills Association suggests sugar prices in the state have fallen from Rs 2,964 per quintal in October to Rs 2,750 a quintal in December. Such levels were last seen in 2011, sugar co-operatives said.
Maharashtra’s powerful politicians who control the state’s co-operatives got the crushing season postponed by six weeks to mid-October.
But farmers’ organisations have taken to the streets demanding higher prices for their crops.
Industry estimates suggest total sugar output this month amounted to 4.23 million tonnes as compared to 2.9 million tonnes last year.
Maharashtra’s co-operatives are also demanding that the government provide incentives for exports of the sweetener in addition to the subsidy for domestic sale.
The state is expected to produce 8.8 million tonnes of sugar this year as against 7.6 MT last year.
Faced with farmers’ protests, the Devendra Fadnavis government has ordered mills to pay the mandated price for cane. State cooperatives minister Chandrakant Patil warned that board members of cooperatives that fail to pay farmers the prescribed rates would be arrested.