je.st
news
Editorial: Crushing sugar
2013-11-14 07:19:21| Sugar Industry News
While the face-off between the Uttar Pradesh government and the sugar industry in the state continues over accepting cane from farmers for crushing, the government needs to pause and think about the consequences of its policies. In an attempt to be popular with the state\'s 4 million cane farmers, Uttar Pradesh has traditionally announced a much higher state advised price\' (SAP) than the central government-recommended Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP)in FY12, the SAP was R240 per quintal versus R145 forthe FRP and in FY13, UP announced an SAP of R280 versus the FRP of R170. Not surprisingly, the sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh make the biggest losses in the country and, at R2,300 crore, their current arrears to farmers are higher than that in any other statethe total for the country at the end of September was R3,400 crore. India\'s biggest sugar producer Bajaj Hindusthan has just declared September losses of R509 crore as compared to R122 crore in the same period last year; Balrampur Chini, another UP-based miller, declared R122 crore losses in September versus a profit of R49 crore in September last year.
Tags: editorial
sugar
crushing
sugar editorial
Category:Chemicals