Govt warns sugar millers against curbing supplies during festivals

Statement says swift, strong action would be taken against millers who violate the spirit of the release order

In order to ensure that sugar millers do not hold back stocks of the sweetener during the festival season, the government today warned all sugar mills of stern action if supplies are curtailed during the festival months of October and November.

In an official statement issued today, the department of food and consumer affairs said that if sugar mills fail to offload their entire free-sale sugar quota in October and November then it will be automatically get converted into the non-levy (free-sale) sugar.

In October and November, the government allocated 4 million tonnes of sugar for sale in the open market, almost the same as the previous quarter. But, the critical difference was that in the July to September quarter the sugar quota was to be exhausted in three months, but because of festivals mills have been told to sell almost the same quantity of sugar in just two months.

The statement also said that swift and strong action would be taken against those millers who violate the spirit of the release order. 
The government also said that unsold quantities of non-levy sugar would not get extended and mills will necessarily have to sell the entire quantity allocated in October and November itself.

In India, government determines the quantity of sugar that each mill can sell in the open market every quarter. In 2012-2013 (October to September), the sugar production is estimated to be around 23-24 million tonnes, marginally more than the expected demand of 22.5 million tonnes.

In the recent months, retail price of sugar has moved up forcing the government to warn the millers.