(MENAFN- KNN India) Representatives of the Sugar Mills Association (SMA) today called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi. JD(U) MP and former union minister Sharad Pawar was also present at the meet.
The sugar industry in India has been reeling under credit crunch since long.
Cane arrears to farmers have touched Rs 21,000 crore as sugar mills are facing difficulty in making payments due to low sugar prices and high cost of production.
Sugar output is estimated to cross 27 million tonnes in the 2014-15 marketing year (October-September), as against 24.3 million tonnes in the previous year. The annual domestic demand is about 24.8 million tonne.
Recently, Modi had convened a meeting of key ministers in which several proposals - including creating a buffer stock to check the slide in sugar prices, raising the import duty to 40 per cent from 25 per cent now, loan restructuring, promotion of ethanol blending with petrol and export subsidy on white sugar - were discussed.
The meeting conducted in April end aimed at improving the capacity of sugar mills to clear the arrears.
The Indian Sugar Mills Association had asked the government to buy 2.6-2.7 million tonnes of sugar at Rs 31 per kg (based on FRP cost of cane). (KNN Bureau)
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