More Stories

Informist, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026

 

--Govt: To replace monthly sugar sales quota with fortnightly from Sept

--Govt: Cane crushing for 2026-27 sugar season to start Oct 15

--Govt: See over 1 mln tn sugar output in October

--Govt: See Nov sugar output 4.5 mln tn; have adequate supply for festivals
 

NEW DELHI – To ensure mills sell sugar adequately throughout the month, the government has introduced a fortnightly sales quota from September. This will replace the existing monthly sales quota, in which the government mandates mills to liquidate sugar stocks as per the quota by the month-end, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs said. 

 

"Under the fortnightly quota, mills will be required to sell at least 40% of the allocation in the first week and the remaining quantity in the succeeding week," the ministry said. The government is yet to announce the sales quota for September, due by Aug. 31. For August, it had asked mills across the country to sell 2.25 million tonnes by the month-end. Each mill was also given a monthly sales quota earlier.

 

Recently, the government had mandated mills to dispatch stocks within seven days of billing and restricted bulk consumers from holding more than 15 days' inventory. These measures will ensure sugar moves quickly from mills to dealers and, ultimately, consumers, and discourage speculative stock holding.

 

Citing cases from the government's physical inspection drive, it said some mills were found to have been selling less sugar than their monthly quota and reporting incorrect data to the government. "Such practices tend to unnecessarily constrain market supplies despite adequate physical stocks," the ministry said. 

 

To further improve sugar availability, the government said sugarcane-crushing operations for the sugar season 2026-27 (Oct-Sept) will start mid-October. This is likely to result in mills producing 1.0 million tonnes of sugar in October and 4.5 million tonnes in November, providing substantial additional supply to meet festival season demand. Festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi and Krishna Janmashtami fall in September. Demand is expected to peak ahead of Navratri, Durga Puja, and Dussehra in October, followed by Diwali and Chhath Puja in November.

 

The government will release additional quota whenever required to provide adequate availability, the ministry said. Typically, sugar prices tend to firm up during Aug-Nov due to strong demand from confectioners, soft-drink manufacturers, food-processing industries, and others to cater to festival-related demand.

 

Sugar prices surged this year to record highs. Prices have been rallying since July on speculation that stocks could tighten by October, prompting panic buying ahead of the festival season. Deficient rainfall and forecasts of El Nino strengthening in August and September added a weather premium to prices.

 

Ex-mill sugar prices have declined 20% in recent days, and retail prices are expected to follow the downward trend shortly, the government said. Thursday, the all-India average retail price of sugar was INR 65.05 per kg, sharply up from INR 54.06 on Aug. 20 and INR 49.50 in early August, according to traders.  End

 

Reported by Afra Abubacker

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.