The court intervenes when government fails- seems to have become norm of Indian life. The sugarcane farmers finally got reprieve when the Punjab High Court ordered payment to them to the tune of Rs 100 cores by the mill owners who had received sugarcane from them earlier.

Eight sugar mills owed them this amount towards the last year payment. High Court was so stern that it called for sale of these mills if they fail to pay by August 9.

These mills are Gurdaspur Cooperative Sugar Mill, Batala Cooperative Sugar Mill, Bhogpur Cooperative Sugar Mill , Nakodar  Cooperative Sugar Mill , Fazilka Cooperative Sugar Mill , Budewal Cooperative Sugar Mill, Ajnala Cooperative Sugar Mill and Morinda Cooperative Sugar Mill.

The payment is to be made before Sugarcane commissioner. The secretary, cooperative department has been directed by the High Court to ensure payment of balanced amount to farmers.

How the government function is interesting to know especially in mattes of levy sugar. Sugar mill has to give 10 percentsugar  to govt as levy quota at a rate of Rs 19-20, though the market rate is Rs30-32.

Interestingly, government is neither lifting this sugar from the mills nor allowing sugar mills to reduce the quota resulting into stockpiling of huge sugar at the mills. Sugar cooperatives are major sources of sugar in the country.

However, on Friday a top Ministry official of the rank of food secretary hinted at reducing the quantity of sugar that mills need to contribute for supply through ration shops in 2012-13 after assessing the production situation.

In a representation made to the Food Ministry recently, the sugar industry contended that there is a case for a cut in levy sugar quota as the government has not been able to lift the entire quota in the last few years and consequently the carry forward stock has increased to 21 lakh tonnes for the 2011-12 marketing year.

Though the annual PDS demand for sugar is around 26 lakh tonnes, the average lifting by the state governments has been only 16 lakh tonnes in the last six years, they said.

The sugar industry has been demanding levy sugar quota to be reduced to 5 per cent in 2011-12 marketing year to save their inventory costs.

The government of India has increased sugarcane price by a whopping 17 percent.  That is to say, sugar mills would pay to farmers Rs 170 a quintal for 2012-13.

The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices had earlier recommended an increase in sugarcane price.

Sources say what with increasing production costs and a general weakening of the rural economy, the sugarcane farmers deserved a better deal.

The FRP, the minimum price that sugarcane farmers are legally guaranteed, for the ongoing marketing year stands at Rs 145 per quintal.

The FRP is the sugarcane price fixed by the Centre but there are some states like Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu which announce their own rate called state advisory price (SAP).

The SAP is higher than the FRP. In Uttar Pradesh, for example, the SAP for the current year stands at Rs 250 per quintal, compared to Centre’s FRP of Rs 145 a quintal.

Usually, the government accepts the cane price recommended by the CACP.

Sources add India has had a bumper sugarcane production in 2011-12 and has emerged as one of the leading sugar exporting countries on the global market. There is general agreement that India’s capacity to supply the world with sweetener has continuously been on an upward trend.

Sugar industry sources say low precipitation this year has affected sugar production.  There is   apprehension that the production is likely to fall by a million tonnes. That is to say, the country would be able to have only 25 million tonnes of sugar this year.

Maharashtra and Karnataka are the two leading sugar producing states in the country but low rain has forced them to report reduced production.

However, there is good news that Uttar Pradesh another major sugar producing state is expected to keep up its level of sugar production.

According to official estimates, as there has been planting of sugarcane on a much bigger arcrage this year across the country, there would be no problem meeting the domestic demands for the commodity.

A delay in the payment of dues by the sugar factory has begun fuelling anger among the sugarcane farmers in Ganjam district of Orissa.
Farmers are especially irked by the fact that even when the cooperative sugar factory has completed its crushing and processing operations last month, it has not shown any willingness to pay their dues.

Farmers are worried if they do not get their amount on time, they would fail to start farming crops afresh.

Sources close to the sugar factory, however, maintain part of dues has already been paid and the remaining dues would be paid as soon as the sugar unit gets the bank loans and the amount due to it from the Orissa Sate Beverage Corporation for liquor supplied to the corporation.

The Uttarakhand government has recently decided to take all necessary steps to improve the condition of sugar mills in the state.

The govt has already set up a sub-committee to look into the problems facing sugar mills including the cooperative sugar mills.

There have been reports that the cooperative sugar mills have not only been in the red but also   suffered obsolescence of technology and working methods over the last years.

Urgent efforts are called for to rationalize these sugar mills.

The cooperative  sugar mills in Haryana have had a remarkable performance producing  more than a million quintals of sugar this crushing season in the state.

The mills have  used  more than 15 million  quintals of sugarcane to produce this amount of sugar , claimed  officials  of  the Haryana govt in Chandigarh on Thursday.

The two cooperative  sugar mills  located at Shahbad and Rohtak  alone have used  more than 3 million  and  about 2 million quintals of sugarcane  in the production of sugar respectively.

Some four cooperative sugar mills have also  provided the state’s power installations  with  more than  34 million  units of  electricity.

The Haryana  cooperative sugar mills  have  another feather in their cap as their  sugar recovery stands  at an impressive 8 percent.

The optimal performance of the cooperative sugar mills  is a dependable index of the  success of the cooperative sector in the state, added the  Haryana govt officials.

The government took the decision to allow export of five lakh tonnes of sugar following representation by sugar-producing states and cooperative societies.

Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, K.V. Thomas on Monday said the government’s decision to allow export of five lakh tonnes of sugar last week has led to an increase of Rs. 4 per kg in the sweetener’s retail price.

Readers may be aware that Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithvi Raj Chavan have strongly advocated the case of allowing more sugar export.

“That’s why we did not (initially) agree for exports”, he said at a conference on Negotiable Warehouse Receipts System in Bangalore.

“This we had apprehended earlier (that the move will lead to increase in the retail price of sugar),” he added.

The Minister said the government took the decision to allow export of five lakh tonnes of sugar following representation by sugar-producing states and cooperative societies.

“I am not resisting exports”, Mr. Thomas stressed, adding that, “My concern is with the consumers.”

The international sugar prices are hovering higher than the domestic prices.

While domestic prices are pegged in the range of Rs 2,500-2,600 per quintal, the international prices are calculated in Indian currency at around Rs 2,800 per quintal giving a premium of around Rs 200 per quintal.

The price rise in domestic market is believed to boost farmers’ sentiment for sugarcane cultivation.

“The sugar prices had touched a bottom of Rs 2,400 per quintal as exports were capped till now. Lower prices would result in reduced realization for farmers. This would make them shift to another crop. So it was necessary to keep farmers stay interested in cane farming.

Earlier, farmers’ realisation was feared to be as low as Rs 1,900 to Rs 2,200 per tonne of sugarcane against Rs 2,400 to Rs 2,500 per tonne given last year. The sugar acreage in the state has remained stable at around 200,000 hectares, with nearly 300,000 farmers associated with it.

Meanwhile, the industry is still demanding more exports of sugar. “After allowing exports of 500,000 tonnes of sugar, the total export permit so far has reached to one million tonnes. But the demand for total sugar exports is  two million tonnes by the end of the current season.

Against the total estimated sugar production of about 24.4 million tonnes for the year 2010-11 (October-September) the domestic demand is believed to be around 22-22.5 million tonnes.

Food Minister K V Thomas on Friday said the government will not take any “hasty decision” on allowing sugar exports, as its first priority is to protect the interests of consumers.

“This year, sugar production is good, but we have got internal market. We are more concerned with the domestic market. We will take the decision of export (sugar) only after giving priority to maintaining price level within the country,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting in N Delhi.

The minister noted that although sugar prices are coming down in the domestic market, the government still needs to be “very cautious on exports”.

The retail price of sugar has declined to Rs 32/kg now from Rs 48/kg in January in most parts of the country.

When asked India is losing out on export opportunities as global prices are high currently, Thomas said, “I am more concerned with my farmers and domestic consumers. I will not jump into a hasty decision (on sugar exports)”.

At present, the government has kept the export of 0.5 million tonnes (MT) of sugar under the open general licence (OGL) scheme on hold due to high inflation. But earlier, it had allowed mills to meet their export obligation (ALS) of nearly one million tonnes by March, 2011.

Meanwhile, sugar industry bodies Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) and National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories (NFCSF) have petitioned the government to immediately allow exports to prevent arrears to sugarcane farmers from mounting, as mills are facing losses of about Rs 150 per quintal on the sale of sugar.

In Uttar Pradesh, the cost of sugar production is Rs 2,950 a quintal, while the ex-mill price is Rs 2,800 per quintal. Similarly, in Maharashtra, the cost of production is Rs 2750 per quintal, whereas the ex-mill price is Rs 2,600 per quintal.

The sugar industry has estimated an exportable surplus of three million tonnes this year, considering good sugar output.

The industry has pegged India’s sugar output at 25 MT for the 2010-11 sugar year (October-September), as against demand of 22 MT, while the government’s production estimate is marginally lower at 24.5 MT for the same period.

Till February, about 16.3 MT of sugar has been produced, against 13.7 MT in the year-ago period.

Courtsey:PTI

Aska Cooperative Sugar Industries Limited (ACSIL) has produced around 66,700 quintal sugar during the current crushing season, around 28,605 quintals more than the previous year.

In the previous year Orissa’s Aska-based sugar industry in cooperative sector produced 37,895 quintals of sugar.

Similarly the factory also crushed 38,317 metric tones  of sugarcane this year than the previous year. The oldest sugar industry in the state crushed 81,923 metric tones of sugarcane this year in 53 days as against the previous years 43,606 metric tones in 34 days.

The factory ran more days this year as the farmers supplied more sugarcane than the previous year, said a senior officer of the factory.

The factory started to crush the sugarcane from December 23, 2010 and ended on February 18.

The factory authorities aimed to crush around 1.50 lakh metric tones of sugarcane in the next crushing season to be started in the month of December.

“We have taken several steps to increase the acreages of the sugarcane in Ganjam district to achieve the target,” sugarcane manager of ACSIL P C Padhy said.

The factory authorities want to increase the sugarcane acreage in the district to 7500 acres from 3603 acres.