Food minister says to push for raising sugar import duty

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's food minister said he would propose raising the import duty on sugar to 40 percent from 25 percent as a preventive measure to protect farmers, though the country has amassed massive stocks through bumper local harvests.

Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters on Wednesday he would write to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley pressing the demand.

Output in India, the world's biggest producer behind Brazil, is estimated to rise to 26.5 million tonnes in 2014/15 from 24.4 million in the previous year.

The country imports very little but surplus production over the past few years has depressed prices, hitting mills' ability to pay dues to sugarcane farmers.

(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Anand Basu)