Sugar stocks in demand; gain up to 3%

Sugar stocks ended with up to 3 per cent gains today in anticipation of the government announcing a bailout package for cash-starved mills to clear dues to farmers.

Shares of Dhampur Sugar Mills rose 3.24 per cent, Balrampur Chini Mills (3.14 per cent), Mawana Sugars (2.14 per cent), Uttam Sugar Mills (1.63 per cent), Avadh Sugar & Energy (0.48 per cent) and Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar (0.28 per cent) on BSE.

The government will soon announce a bailout package of Rs 8,000 crore to sugar industry to ensure the cash-starved mills clear cane dues of Rs 22,000 crore, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said today.

Sugar mills are unable to make payments to cane growers as their financial health has worsened due to a sharp fall in sugar prices after a record production of 31.6 million tonne (MT) so far in the 2017-18 season (October-September).