Mills owe cane farmers Rs 5000 cr

Rs 5,112.29 crore,which is

Rs 1,912.5 crore more than last year’s dues for the same period. This at a time when the industry is already bearing the brunt of falling sugar prices and high state advisory price (SAP) for purchase of sugarcane.

With one of the highest SAPs in the country,Uttar Pradesh paid

Rs 280 per quintal of cane to farmers (with only Uttarakhand paying more than Uttar Pradesh),which is Rs 40 more than last year,amounting to Rs 22,459.87 crore payable to farmers. In 2011-12,the industries’ bill towards farmers came to Rs 18,204.68 crore.

On the other hand,sugar prices have seen a fall of almost Rs 400 per quintal in the last five months. The industry has long been demanding increase in customs duty of imported sugar from 10 per cent to 60 per cent,for which the Uttar Pradesh Sugar Mills Association has again written to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The industry claims that the low customs duty is allowing sugar from Pakistan to saturate markets of major sugar buyers like Punjab,which is not helping the sugar industry of Uttar Pradesh. The industry,which had incurred a loss of almost Rs 2,000 crore last year,is estimating its loss for 2012-13 to be around Rs 3,500 crore.

Although the state government has announced a waiver of purchase tax of Rs 2 per quintal of sugarcane,the industry is also demanding relief of Rs 25 per quintal of sugarcane to the mills in order to clear the cane price arrears.

The state government had,through a cabinet decision on May 22,promised to settle the dues of Rs 700-odd crore to the sugar mills. The amount was due on Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited for purchase of power from the co-generation units of sugar mills.

“The amount would have helped the industry settle its dues. But it is yet to be released to the industry,” said a senior official.

Uttar Pradesh’s sugar produce is second highest in the country after Maharashtra,with 74.64 lakh ton of sugar produced in 2012-13.