New Delhi fixes the buying price of sugar cane at 340 rupees ($4.10) per 100 kg for next season
Published : 22 Feb 2024, 12:59 AM
India will raise the floor price that mills must pay for sugar cane in the 2024/25 season by 8% from Oct. 1, as the world's second-largest sugar producer tries to boost output and please farmers ahead of a general election later this year.
New Delhi fixed the buying price of sugar cane at 340 rupees ($4.10) per 100 kg for next season, up from this year's 315 rupees, for a basic recovery rate of 10.25%, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said on Wednesday.
The federal government raises the floor price for cane, also known as the Fair And Remunerative Price (FRP), almost every year.
But Uttar Pradesh state, the country's top cane producer, invariably raises the floor price further due to its millions of cane growers, an influential voting bloc.
The government aims to increase cane prices to support farmers, yet simultaneously tries to maintain affordable sugar prices for consumers, said a sugar miller based in western state of Maharashtra, a leading sugar producer.
"Without a corresponding increase in sugar prices permitted by the government, mills cannot afford to pay higher prices for cane," he said.