The sugar industry has expressed dismay over retail prices not falling in line with the sharp decline in ex-mill rates in recent days.
At a joint press briefing in New Delhi on Tuesday, the Indian Sugar and Bio-energy Manufacturers Association (Isma) and National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories (NFCSF) said the difference between ex-mill and retail prices should ideally not exceed Rs 6-7 per kg.
With average ex-mill rates falling to around Rs 45 per kg from a high of about Rs 50 per kg a few days ago, there was no reason for retail prices to remain at Rs 61-63 per kg, they said.
"We also make it very clear that when average ex-mill prices momentarily climbed to almost Rs 50 per kg and there was a spike in retail rates as well, sugar mills did not make any profit and hardly 100,000-150,000 tonnes of sugar got sold at those elevated prices," NFCSF Chairman Harshvardhan Patil told reporters.
He said there was "absolutely no shortage" of sugar anywhere and no reason for retail prices to remain elevated when ex-mill prices had fallen by nearly 30 per cent in recent days.
The millers said ex-mill prices would need to remain above the average cost of production of around Rs 42-43 per kg to enable mills to make timely payments to farmers.
The millers also pointed to the government's approval of a 1 million tonne (mt) duty-free import quota under the tariff-rate quota (TRQ), of which around 0.8 mt has already been allocated.
'An additional window for importing 0.2 mt of raw sugar, along with 0.3-0.35 mt of supplies by refiners by October 15, is expected to strengthen availability,' Isma and NFCSF said.
The industry said mills were advancing the start of the 2026-2027 crushing season by 10-15 days, while special crushing operations continued in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Sugar prices have also eased sharply from their August peak. Pan-India ex-mill prices averaged Rs 39.5-40 per kg in June, Rs 40-40.5 per kg in July and Rs 41-41.5 per kg in August, compared with an industry production cost of around Rs 42 per kg.
Prices briefly touched Rs 49-50 per kg in the third week of August before falling nearly 30 per cent.
Retail sugar prices have subsequently declined to around Rs 62 per kg, the associations said.
— Sanjeeb Mukherjee, Business Standard
Also read:
'Sugar Prices Have Begun To Ease'and
