Paswan to discuss cane arrears with cabinet mins from UP, Maha

Concerned over huge cane arrears to farmers, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today said he will discuss this issue with his cabinet colleagues from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra to resolve the matter at earliest.
"..There is issue of sugarcane farmers regarding payment. We want to resolve this as early as possible. I will have discussions with various leaders like Nitin Gadkari, Gopinath Munde, Maneka Gandhi and Kalraj Mishra," he told reporters here when asked about the huge cane arrears.
According to industry estimates, sugar mills owe about Rs 12,000 crore to sugarcane farmers. The crushing season, which started in October last year, has almost ended but cash- starved mills are unable to clear arrears as sugar prices are lower than the cost of production.

To bail out the sugar industry, the UPA government in December 2013 had approved Rs 6,600 crore interest-free loan to the sugar industry for making payment to sugarcane farmers.
That apart, the previous government had also approved export subsidy to sale surplus sugar in the overseas market.
Sugar production of India, the world's second largest producer and biggest consumer, is estimated to decline by 4 per cent to 24.2 million tonnes (MT) in the 2013-14 marketing year ending September.

Still, the production is higher than the annual domestic demand estimated at 23-23.5 MT.
Earlier this week, industry body ISMA demanded a stable policy for the sugar sector that supports 50 million farmers and also sought hike in import duty of the sweetener to at least 40 per cent.

Import duty currently stands at 15 per cent. Industry has been demanding an increase in import duty to boost sales of domestic sugar as the country has surplus production.