Coop sugar factories urge PM Narendra Modi to revise minimum sale price

As sugarcane crushing draws to a close in most parts of the country, cooperative sugar factories — a sizable number of whom are in Maharashtra — have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking to increase the minimum sale price (MSP) of sugar to improve their cash flows that would make clearing sugarcane dues to growers convenient.

The cooperative factories want the MSP to be raised from the existing Rs 31 per kilogram to at least Rs 37.20-39.70 in line with the past increases in fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane.

The MSP of sugar was last revised a few years back. Though the current market rate is much higher than the MSP, millers said a revision was needed as bankers tend to value sugar stocks of mills at this rate and lower MSP means lesser availability of funds for millers as bank loans.

“The industry is in a catch-22 situation. While there is no revision in MSP, there is an increase in the FRP, which is coupled with no increase in availability of funds from banks… this is directly impacting FRP payments to farmers,” the letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi a few days back said.

Call for pricing mechanism for ethanol derived from maize

The food ministry has urged the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to devise a special pricing mechanism for ethanol derived exclusively from maize so that the processing industry gets some sort of assured returns, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said on Tuesday.