Uttarakhand fixes sugarcane price at Rs 280 a quintal

The Uttarakhand government has decided to keep the 2014-15 state advised price (SAP) for sugarcane on a par with that of Uttar Pradesh. The new cane price will be Rs 280 a quintal in the hill state, the state Cabinet decided on Sunday. The meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Harish Rawat. Last year, Uttarakhand's SAP was Rs 285 a quintal. The price of sugarcane in Uttarakhand will now match the one in Uttar Pradesh, said Surendra Kumar, the media in-charge of the chief minister. This is being done because farmers in Uttar Pradesh were selling sugarcane to Uttarakhand mills to take advantage of the higher price there, said state sugarcane minister S S Negi.

In 2012-13, the government had increased SAP by 15 per cent, fixing it at Rs 285, from Rs 250. SAP has not been changed since then. But in the first week of December, Negi had announced 2014-15 SAP will be Rs 285 a quintal. But in less than a month, the price was reduced by Rs 5 a quintal.

The state government, however, did not make any commitment about any sops to the ailing sugar mills and rejected a demand of the Opposition to increase SAP. "Our sugar mills are already facing losses. We cannot increase SAP further," said Negi.

Experts said the announcement of SAP at Rs 280 was being done because of pressure from sugar mills, which were facing the heat of falling sugar prices in the country.

State farmers were, however, demanding SAP of Rs 300-350.