Sugar cane arrears plunge in India as sweetener prices rally

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Sugar cane arrears in India have plunged to 42.3 billion rupees ($624.77 million) from a record 218 billion rupees last year, as a rally in the prices of the sweetener allowed mills to pay farmers stipulated prices, the government said on Wednesday.

Mills have so far paid 92 percent of their cane dues to farmers in the 2015/16 marketing year ending on Sept. 30, it said in a statement.

Last year, record cane arrears forced the government to provide incentives for sugar exports.

But a 44 percent rally in sugar prices since the start of the marketing year has allowed the government to suspend the sugar export subsidy and put a tax on the exports.

India is the world's second biggest sugar producer and top consumer.

($1 = 67.7050 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)