New Delhi: Aiming to weed out archaic laws and committees, the food ministry has decided to disband the 56-year old Development Council for Sugar Industry (DCSI) saying the statutory body is no longer relevant after decontrol and de-licencing of the sugar sector.

DCSI was set up way back in 1954 under the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act. The Council looked into issuance of licences for setting up of new sugar mills and other issues related to the sector. DCSI has normally been reconstituted after expiry of two years tenure.

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The Samajwadi Party government plans to set up a new sugar mill at the cost of nearly Rs 400 crore in party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s parliamentary constituency Azamgarh. The proposed mill will be set up on the land of cooperative sugar mill which has been lying defunct for the past decade.

A proposal for setting up the new sugar mill by Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Sugar Mill Federation (UPCSMF) has been sent to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for final clearance. “The proposal has been prepared due to the keen interest of Chief Minister Akhilesh. The new sugar mill will be set up at Sathiaon in Azamgarh,” a senior official told The Sunday Express.

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MUMBAI: Plunging sugar prices have forced at least one sugar mill to default on bank loans and could drive others to do the same, the latest sign of the heavy toll a four-year-old supply glut in the country is taking on producers of the sweetener.

One of the country's largest sugar mills, Mawana Sugars Ltd, has defaulted on 2.5 billion rupees ($40 million) of outstanding loans from a consortium of lenders, according to an official from the company.

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Indian soyoil futures recovered on Tuesday due to short-covering, taking cue from sentiment in rival palm oil futures, said trade analysts on Tuesday.

* Malaysian palm oil futures bounced back after hitting a more than one-week low in the previous session, as a recovery in overseas soy markets and a weaker ringgit lifted the tropical oil.

* At 1245 GMT, the key October soyoil contract on the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange was quoted 1.2 percent higher at 599.5 rupees ($9.8) per 10 kg.

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For SY2012-13, the domestic sugar production is marginally higher than domestic sugar consumption (estimated at around 23-23.5 million MT) which together with imports of 0.5 million tons has resulted in a modest surplus, although sugar stocks still remain satisfactory at 6.5- 7.0 million MT or 3 months domestic consumption. The domestic free sugar realisations, which had shown an upward trend between May 2012 to November 2012 (peaking at around Rs.36,000/MT2), have since shown a declining trend falling to around Rs. 31,000/MT by May and June 2013. Competition from sugar produced by processing raw sugar (whose prices remained weak globally because of supply pressures) also continued to prevent any rally in sugar prices.

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NEW DELHI: Subsidiary of EID Parry (India), Parrys Sugar Industries LtdBSE 2.25 % (PSIL) today reported net loss of Rs 20.12 crore for the first quarter ended on June 30.

The company had clocked a net loss of Rs 21.12 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

The results of the first quarter of 2013-14, are not comparable with results of same quarter year ago, due to demerger of the company from its parent company EID Parry India LtdBSE -0.78 %, the company said in a filing to the BSE.

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The centre will bear an additional annual subsidy of Rs2,600 crore on account of decontrolling the sugar sector for two years, finance minister P Chidambaram said today.

The additional subsidy burden comes at a time when the country's fiscal deficit is estimated to have barely been brought down to levels around 5.2 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP).

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New Delhi, Sugarcane growers are divided over the impact of the partial decontrol measures announced by the Government on Thursday.

The farmers in the North, especially Uttar Pradesh, are sceptical over the sugar factories passing on the gains to them arising from the removal of the levy system. This is even as total cane arrears across the country in the current sugar year increase to over Rs 10,694 crore, with Uttar Pradesh accounting for over half of it at Rs 5,800 crore, followed by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

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Magnum has come out with its report on sugar sector. According to the research firm the sugar year 2012-13 seems to be negative for sugar industry as costs of sugar production in the year will be higher than 2012 due to increase in sugarcane costs by 16%-17% over the last season.

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The company will use the proceeds of the IPO for expansion

Karnataka-based Vishwaraj Sugar Industries (VSL) has drawn up Rs 425 crore expansion plans for doubling its production capacity.

The company plans to hit the capital market in February- March with initial public offer ( IPO) to raise up to Rs 374 crore.

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The sugar industry has urged the Government to increase import duty on sugar to 30 per cent from 10 per cent to protect domestic companies from cheap imports. Besides low duty, the sharp drop in international sugar prices has also led to large quantity of raw and processed sugar imports.

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Even as high inflation has drawn the attention of policymakers, declining prices of sugar, owing to excess supply, have hit the industry.

Sugar prices in most parts of the country, primarily north India, are now lower than production costs. According to sugar industry representatives, the ex-mill sale price of sugar stands at about Rs 33 a kg in the North, against the cost of production of Rs 34-36. In Maharashtra and Karnataka, at Rs 31 a kg, the price is just higher than the production cost of Rs 30 a kg.

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Sugar prices across the country rule steady at lower level on Tuesday. Due to Chrismas bank holiday volume was lower at mill level. At Vashi market sugar prices in spot declined further by Rs20 – Rs30 a quintal as stockists released poor quality at lower rates to make room for fresh stocks. Naka and mill tender rates were unchanged as producer hold back to offload stocks at lower rates. Moral was steady said sources.

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The sugar industry in India’s biggest-producing state, Uttar Pradesh, is staring at a loss of Rs 3,000 crore this season (October-September), after the 16 per cent increase in sugarcane price announced on Friday evening. Stocks of sugar companies like Balrampur Chini and Triveni Engineering got crushed, even as the market ended flat.

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PUNE: The income-tax department has served notices on Maharashtra sugar mills for paying cane price over and above the fair and remunerative price (FRP) fixed by the government.

According to the state co-operation minister, the I-T department has assessed the dues of the sugar industry at Rs 5,000 crore for the period from 1984 to 2011.

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NEW DELHI: The government's move to enforce 5% blending of ethanol with petrol at market price from this December is likely to boost profits of sugar companies, which are major producers of ethanol - a byproduct for the industry. According to industry, the revenue from ethanol blending for the Rs 80,000-crore sugar industry will go up more than three times from Rs 1,200 crore to around Rs 4,000 crore.

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New Delhi: Cooperative sugar mills on Friday said new ethanol pricing formula approved by the government would help millers in generating additional revenue that would be shared with sugarcane farmers.

"The sugar industry is very happy and welcomes the decision of the government to give its approval for procurement of bio-ethanol by oil-marketing companies (OMC's)," the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories said in a statement.

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New Delhi, The Union Government has taken penal action against 53 sugar mills for not furnishing details online about sugar production, dispatches and stock position of the 2011-12 season to the Food Ministry.

For better management of the sugar sector, the Government made online updation of sugar-related information operational from last year. Mills were asked to update details regularly.

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Now 40 % of sugar output to be packed in jute material

In a relief to the sugar sector, the government has relaxed the compulsory jute packing norms by allowing mills to pack only 40 per cent of their sugar output in jute bags this year, instead of 100 per cent.

Under the Jute Packaging Materials Act (JPMA), 1987, the government had made 100 per cent mandatory reservation for jute bags for packaging of sugar and foodgrains.

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Bihar government today decided to draft a new sugar incentive policy within a month by rethinking over existing subsidy rate and imposing entry tax on outside sugar to boost production of sugar in the state.

The decision was taken at meeting of sugar producers and industry bodies with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

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