Uttar Pradesh sugar mills are getting worried with mounting cane arrears pertaining to the 2012-13 crushing season underway.
As per the latest available statistics, the mills have already run arrears of over Rs 1,580 crore against the total payable amount of Rs 2,675 crore. Thus the today payments to farmers had so far about Rs 1,095 crore.
The private mills account for the bulk of payments at Rs 911 crore followed by the cooperative units.
In fact, the total dues of the state mills are to the tune of over Rs 5,000 crore. However, they get 14 days to pay the outstanding cane dues, which had reduced their payable liability to Rs 2,675 crore. As crushing advances, the arrears would mount further due to the high cane price payable in the state, the sugar industry – which has already written a letter to the state government – has rued.
So far, about 1.66 million tonnes (MT) of sugar had been produced in UP compared to 1.88 MT last year.
According to official figures, about 121 sugar mills are operating in the state and had collectively crushed over 19 MT of sugarcane. Thus the recovery percentage stands at 8.72 per cent compared to 8.37 per cent last year.
On December 7, the state government, after inordinate delay, had announced the sugarcane State Advised Price (SAP) for 2012-13, which was 17 per cent higher for the common variety compared to 2011-12.
SAP now stands at Rs 280/quintal for common variety vis-à-vis Rs 240/quintal last year, which forms the bulk of the sugarcane grown in UP. The prices for early and rejected/unsuitable varieties of cane have been hiked to Rs 290/quintal and Rs 275/quintal compared to Rs 250/quintal and Rs 235/quintal respectively.
The hike is likely to translate into total sugarcane payments of Rs 21,500 crore to farmers this crushing season compared to Rs 18,200 crore during 2011-12.
EOM