Govt may advance sugar release mechanism

New Delhi (PTI) : The government is likely to advance by a few days the announcement of quantity of sugar to be sold in open market by mills, a move which is expected to ensure better availability.

The Food Ministry, which decides every month the quantity of sugar to be sold in open market by mills, may advance its decision by a few days from October, sources said.

The release order, allocating quantities for each sugar mill, is issued on the first of each month. Accordingly, sugar companies sell the quantities in open market.

"We are planning to announce the non-levy allocation well before the month starts to make better availability of sugar in the market," a senior government official said, adding mills would get more time for crushing the cane.

The government will ensure that there will be adequate availability of sugar in the market to meet the festival requirement, the official said and added there is no shortage.

The sugar availability in open market was about 21 lakh tonnes this month, including 12 lakh tonnes monthly quota and about nine lakh tonnes from buffer stocks. Last September, the total availability of sugar was 13 lakh tonnes .

Asked what quantity would be released next month, the official said, "it will be based on demand. Releases are made after assessing the market."

Government officials said the ex-mill price of sugar has come down to Rs 1,815 a quintal from Rs 1,927 a quintal at Muzafarnagar and to Rs 1,680 a quintal from Rs 1,820 levels at Kolhapur during September 2-16.

Muzafarnagar in Uttar Pradesh and Kolhapur in Maharashtra are two major trading hubs of sugar in the country.

Meanwhile, the sugar industry has urged the government to extend the time for selling the monthly open market quota of 12 lakh tonnes. As per rules, the unsold amount of non-levy sugar in a month is converted into levy, which mills are bound to sell to government. Levy sugar price, fixed by government, is much lower than market rate.

source:hindu