SUGAR PRICES MAY HIT RS 30/ KG ON ACUTE SHORTAGE OF CANENew Delhi: The retail price of sugar has touched Rs.28.50/kg in parts of the country, and is set to cross Rs.30/kg according to the trade. The reason: a shortage of cane, which has seen its price climb to more than double the statutory minimum price (SMP) of Rs.81.50 per quintal. The acute short supply of cane meant that the crushing season started this sugar year only in November-end instead of October.
This is bad news for the government, which has been trying to avert any rise in
the price of this politically-sensitive commodity by waiving import duty on both
raw and refined sugar. Its next policy response is likely to be a hike in the
quarterly release quota of sugar for April-June.
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Acting Pricey
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No more Sweet
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Prices
of cane has risen to more than double the SMP of Rs.81.50 per quintal
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In
wholesale mkts, sugar prices have shot up Rs.30/qtl in the last fortnight
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In
the wholesale markets, sugar prices have shot up by Rs.30/quintal in the last
fortnight to Rs.2700-2750 per quintal in
Delhi
, Rs.2750/qtintal in
Bhopal
and high of Rs. 2900/quintal in
Ludhiana
. The ex-factory sugar price in UP is in the range of Rs.2550-2100 per quintal.
The onset of an early and what promises to be a bad summer is also bad news on
account of high sugar demand expected.
The
price of cane is ruling in UP between Rs.135 and Rs.190 per quintal. To boot,
the government is yet to announce the SMP for the 2009-10 sugar year, although
there is an urgent need to do so soon in order to get more area under cane.
According to trade experts, cane farmers in UP were paid Rs.190/quintal for
their produce in late March-early April by Daya Sugar Mills, Saharanpur, and the
Mahalaxmi Sugar Mills, Iqbalpur (Uttranchal).
Triveni Sugar Mills in Deoband is understood to
have paid sugarcane producers Rs.175/quintal this season, when area under
sugarcane has reportedly come down by 35-40% primarily due to lack of parity on
support prices with other crops. Prices in
Punjab
and Haryana have risen to Rs.170-180/qintal in the south, mills in Karnataka
have paid as much as Rs.180/-quinal for sugarcane.
- Prabha Jagannathan
(The Economic Times: 17.4.2009)
