Govt asks Centre to ban sugar import

Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh claimed that private sugar mills had agreed to pay the SAP in spite of the announcement of a lower FRP by the Centre. “There will be no need for the state government to adopt coercive measures for ensuring the compliance of SAP by sugar mills,” he said.

“The UP government has been fixing the SAP of sugarcane since 1973-74,and this year too the government will ensure that the sugar mills accept the price of sugarcane announced by the state government,” he said.

The state government has already banned offloading of imported raw sugar. The mills plan to refine the raw sugar and sell it. “The ban on offloading of imported sugar will continue till the harvesting of the sugarcane crop is over. Otherwise,the imported sugar will have an adverse impact on the price of sugarcane,” he said. According to Shekhar,one sugar mill has stopped the onward journey of two trains loaded with imported sugar at Kandla port.

Asked whether the state will challenge the FRP in the Supreme Court,Shekhar said: “The court has,in the past,upheld the right of the state to fix the SAP,so there is no need to challenge the FRP. The government will implement the order.” FRP is a new regime for determining the price of sugarcane,adopted by the Centre from the current crushing season,he said.

Earlier,the Centre announced the statutory minimum price (SMP),but the states fixed their own SAP which was higher than the SMP and the sugar mills paid to farmers the price fixed by the state government,he added. The Centre has fixed FRP at Rs 129.84 per quintal against 9.5 per cent sugar recovery. In UP,the FRP works out to Rs 123 per quintal since sugar recovery is 9 per cent. The state government,however,has fixed the SAP at Rs 165-170 per quintal.

The order issued by the Centre under the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act reads that if the states fix a price higher than FRP,then they will have to pay the difference to the farmers,and not the mills. The state,however,does not mind paying a higher price now because of the low cane production this year.

Pawar to ask UP millers to pay farmers more
New Delhi: With protest by farmers in UP against low sugarcane price getting louder,the Centre on Wednesday said it would ask mills in the state to pay more for cane purchase as they are raking in profits on sugar sale. “I am inviting the UP Sugar Mills Association in the next 2 to 3 days. I will tell them when you are selling sugar for over Rs 3,000 (a quintal),you need to pay more to farmers. And we will see if they are giving or not,” Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said at the Economic Editors Conference. He was replying to a query if UP mills would be ready to pay more than the benchmark price of Rs 129.84 (fair and remunerative price,or FRP) fixed by the Centre for a quintal of cane. Pawar clarified that the FRP is the minimum rate at which mills are mandated to buy and that they won’t get cane if they don’t pay in accordance with market realities. “They will not get sugarcane if they are behaving like this,” he said when told that mills are not ready to pay more to farmers. PTI