State raises sugarcane price, millers oppose it
Wednesday, 19/11/2014
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=119093&boxid=58404&uid=&dat=2014-11-19
Chandigarh: Even as private sugar mills asking the state government not to go ahead with the price hike, the Punjab government on Tuesday decided to raise sugarcane price by Rs 5 per quintal for crushing season (2014-15). With sugarcane crushing season set to start from November 20, the state government announced to raise State Agreed Price (SAP) of early, medium and late varieties of sugarcane by Rs 5 per quintal.
Notably, Punjab-based private sugar mills had asked the state government not to raise SAP of sugarcane for 2014-15 crushing season, saying low sugar prices hit the industry hard. Sugar mill owners had pointed that there was no ‘viability’ in running sugar mills as there were very high rates of cane in the state while current sugar prices were lesser than input cost.
Mill owners under the banner of Punjab Private Sugar Mills Association had rued that the state government had raised cane prices substantially by Rs 40 per quintal last year, which had led to financial loss of Rs 30 crore to Rs 50 crore per sugar mill. Private sugar mills owners had said that industry’s input cost from producing sugar was Rs 3,600 per quintal but the wholesale sugar prices were ruling at Rs 3,200 a quintal.
They had also sought rollback of purchase tax on cane in Punjab. A total of one lakh hectares of area was under sugarcane in Punjab, with cane production and sugar estimated to be 720 lakh quintals and 48 lakh quintals, respectively for 2014-15 crushing season.
