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Informist, Wednesday, Jul 31, 2024

 

NEW DELHI – The Centre has slashed the August sugar sales quota for Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh by 14% and 6%, respectively, on a month-on-month basis. The quotas for Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh for August are 776,197 tn and 762,371 tn, respectively, according to a notification by the food and public distribution department today. For Karnataka, another major producer of the sweetener, the sales limit was cut by just 2% from last month to 283,902 tn.

 

The Centre on Friday had set the domestic sugar sales quota for August at 2.2 mln tn, down from 2.4 mln tn last month, and lower than 2.35 mln tn in the same month last year. It also extended the utilisation of the July sales quota to Aug 15. 

 

The government fixes the maximum quantity of sugar available for sale every month to support prices and help mills clear the arrears of sugarcane farmers. As of Apr 30, mills in the country had produced 31.4 mln tn sugar, according to the Indian Sugar & Bio-energy Manufacturers Association. The association expects an additional production of 500,000-600,000 tn of sugar from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, taking the total output in the country to around 32.0 mln tn this season. According to ISMA, mills in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will conduct crushing operations during the special season in Jun-Sep. 

 

Additionally, the government said some mills across the country violated the stockholding limits and sold sugar in excess of their release quota for May. Consequently, it was decided that the excess quantity of sugar sold during May has been deducted from the release quota of August for the concerned mills, the government said in an official release. The government also said mills which dispatched less than 90% of the quota for May without intimation, the release quota up to the extent of utilisation in May is allowed in August. 

 

All sugar mills have also been ordered to register and fill in the online personal history form on the National Single Window System portal, and if any of them fail to do so by Aug 15, the domestic sales quota for September will not be released to them, the government further said. Information relating to ethanol production from B-heavy molasses, sugar syrup and sugarcane juice must also be given on the portal, it said.   

 

India's sugar production in the current season ending September is seen at 32 mln tn, down from 33.1 mln tn last year, according to the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories. On Tuesday, Informist had exclusively reported, quoting ISMA's preliminary estimates that India's total sugar production in 2024-25 (Oct-Sep), without diversion to ethanol, is likely to be 33.31 mln tn, down 2% from last season. 

 

The following table details the state-wise allocation of sugar sales limit for August, with the month-ago level, and the month-on-month change in percentage:

 

States	August (in tn)	July (in tn)	Change (%)
Andhra Pradesh	12,081	17,810	(-)32
Bihar	60,466	48,766	24
Chhattisgarh	12,246	1,088	1026
Gujarat	75,670	80,697	(-)6
Haryana	44,707	54,454	(-)18
Karnataka	283,902	306,682	(-)7
Madhya Pradesh	54,279	53,364	2
Maharashtra	776,197	902,905	(-)14
Odisha	287	562	(-)49
Punjab	35,554	34,085	4
Rajasthan	2,531	2,413	5
Tamil Nadu	49,411	56,447	(-)12
Telangana	3,319	3,624	(-)8
Uttar Pradesh	762,371	809,996	(-)6
Uttarakhand	23,435	27,108	(-)14
Total	2,196,456	2,400,001	(-)8

 

End

 

Reported by Sayantan Sarkar

Edited by Aditya Sakorkar

 

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