Centre hikes sugarcane FRP by Rs 15 per quintal for 2025-26 season

The Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today hiked the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane for the 2025-26 season, which will start from October, by Rs 15 per quintal to Rs 355.

 

This is 4.2 per cent more than the FRP for the 2024-25 sugar season, which will conclude in September.

 

The FRP is linked to a basic recovery of 10.25 per cent.

 

A premium of Rs 3.46 per quintal will be provided for every 0.1 percentage point increase in recovery over and above 10.25 per cent.

 

A reduction in FRP by Rs 3.46 per quintal will be applicable for every 0.1 per cent decrease in recovery from the basic rate.

 

 

But to protect the interest of those sugarcane farmers who are growing older varieties of cane, the government has also decided that there shall not be any deduction in the case of sugar mills where recovery is below 9.5 per cent.

 

Such farmers will get an FRP of Rs 329.05 per quintal for sugarcane in the ensuing sugar season 2025-26.

 

As per the Sugarcane (Control) Order of 1966, FRP is the minimum price that sugar mills have to pay to sugarcane farmers.

 

Recovery rate is the amount of sugar that sugarcane fetches — the higher the quantum of sugar derived from sugarcane, the greater the price it fetches in the market.

 

Big sugarcane-producing states such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana fix their own sugarcane price, called ‘state advisory prices’ (SAPs), which is higher than the Centre’s FRP. 

Meanwhile, welcoming the Centre's decision, the Indian Sugar and Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA), in a statement issued today, said that the revised FRP is projected to enhance the earnings of approximately 5.5 crore sugarcane farmers by over Rs 20,000 crore, taking the total to around Rs 1.2 trillion in the upcoming sugar season.

 

"This decision will not only support farmer livelihoods but also strengthen the overall agricultural economy, particularly in rural regions where sugarcane farming forms a major source of income," ISMA said. It also requested the Centre to align the Minimum Selling Price (MSP) of sugar and ethanol procurement prices with the revised FRP of sugarcane. Such alignment is essential to maintain financial sustainability across the value chain — from farmers to sugar mills, ISMA said. Sugar MSP has not been revised since 2019.