Cane Arrears

Cane dues to be paid by sugar mills to farmers stood at Rs 4,445 crore during the 2020-21 season (October-September), with maximum arrears in Uttar Pradesh, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. During the 2020-21 season, a total of Rs 92,804 crore was to be paid towards sugarcane price to the farmers. Out of which Rs 88,359 crore has been paid and the balance Rs 4,445 crore dues are pending, as per the data placed before Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Food Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti. Of the pending dues during 2020-21 season, a maximum of Rs 3,752 crore cane dues is to be cleared by sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Rs 394 crore in Maharasthra, Rs 64 crore in Chhattisgarh and Rs 63 crore in Haryana, the data showed. About Rs 52 crore dues need to be cleared to farmers in Uttarakhand, Rs 44 crore in Gujarat, RS 37 crore in Andhra Pradesh, Rs 25 crore in Tamil Nadu and Rs 9 crore in Punjab in the said period, it added. The cane dues of Rs 130 crore are still pending for 2019-

While Gujarat is the only state to have gone ahead with staggered payments, the issue of area reservation has been resisted by most states, Maharashtra being an exception

The record drop in stocks has largely been due to bumper exports of seven million tones and diversion of 2.1 million tones of sugar towards ethanol

Cost-price mismatch is only part of the story; lack of working capital for mills and delay in release of subsidy add to the strain in the entire system

4 MT of buffer stocks to help raise sugar prices by 8-9%, reduce inventory cost by 33%