Food Ministry to review sugar stock in the second week of March

In the backdrop of rising prices, the Food Ministry plans to review country's sugar stock after meeting cane commissioners of states and industry representatives in the second week of March.

According to the department of consumer affairs' price monitoring cell, the shift in the wholesale price of sugar in Mumbai moved to Rs 39.62 per kg on January 20 from Rs 37.71 per kg on January 2 and in retail, the price moved from Rs 41 per kg to Rs 43 per kg.

Sugar prices have seen a upsurge by more than 5 per cent in January to be priced as Rs 40 per kg in the wholesale market in Mumbai, as supply is expected to lessen due to cane shortage as mills in Maharashtra are closing early due to sugarcane scarcity.

Food Ministry officials ensured that the retail prices of sugar will remain stable as of now. Besides, there is no immediate plan to cut the import duty of 40 per cent on sugar. They also said that there is no question of lowering the duty now. We have ample stock of sugar and its price will remain under control.

According to government estimates, the sugar production in 2016-17 was at about 22.5 million tonnes after considering early closure of mills in Maharashtra. The official added that there is a carryover stock of 7.71 million tonnes of sugar which is enough to meet the country’s sugar requirement of 24.5-25 million tonnes for this year.