National mills’ body wants separate pricing for sugar

Kolhapur: The National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories (NFCSF) Limited, an apex body of cooperative sugar mills has made suggestions to the Centre's draft Sugarcane (Control) Order 2026, including incorporation of dual pricing for sugar, one rate for commercial and another for household consumption.The meeting of representatives of NFCSF was held in Pune on Saturday under its president Harshvardhan Patil to discuss the new law that will replace Sugarcane (Control) Order 1966. The representatives agreed upon the new changes proposed such as no new sugar mill will be allowed within 25-km radius of the existing one, the provision already in place in Maharashtra but will be applicable in sugarcane cultivation states.During the meeting, the mill representatives suggested dual pricing for sugar. Currently, sugar sold to industries making sweetened sodas, bakeries and confectioneries gets the same rate for households. Sometimes the industries buying the sugar in bulk gets concession rate."The deadline for making suggestions and objections to the draft law ends on May 20. We have listed some of the demands to be included in the order so that the sugar industry and 5.5 crore cane growers who are real stakeholders of the industry benefit. The dual pricing one for sugar used for commercial products and one for household consumption will help mills get better prices and also help stabilise prices of sugar used for household consumption," Patil said.India requires around 280 lakh tonnes of sugar every year. The quantity is more or less same for the last many years as consumers are diverting to the sugar-free options. However, sugar required for commercial purposes accounts for 60% of the total production and rest is used in the households for making tea and occasional home-made sweets.Other changes that the federation has suggested is bringing down the interest rate to be paid for delayed payment of Fair and Remunerative Price to cane growers from 15% to 12% per annum. The mills are mandated to pay the FRP to the farmers in two weeks of harvesting."We have also suggested linking sugar prices and ethanol prices with the FRP. This will help the farmers get realistic prices and the mills become financially viable. We also demand that the Centre should keep policy unchanged for a long period, say for at least 10 years to make the industry stable and Indian sugar attractive at global levels," said Patil.