Indian Millers to Seek Higher Sugar Price to Clear Dues
- Sugar factories owe about $2.7 billion to sugarcane growers
- Mills had 83% more stockpiles than year earlier as of Dec. 31
Workers, right, break and mix sugar crystals on a conveyor as others pack bags of candy sugar at a manufacturing plant in Simbhaoli, Uttar Pradesh.
Photographer: Kuni Takahashi/Bloomberg
Sugar millers in India are urging the government to increase the benchmark price of the commodity to help them pay off about $2.7 billion they owe to farmers, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Indian Sugar Mills Association sent a letter to the government asking for the minimum selling price to be raised to 35-36 rupees ($0.49-$0.51) a kilogram at factory gates from 29 rupees currently, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public yet. That will help mills improve their cash flow, the person said. Abinash Verma, director general of the association, couldn’t be reached immediately for a comment.