Now Reading: Sugar industry seeks early crushing to ease festive prices
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Sugar industry seeks early crushing to ease festive prices
The Indian sugar industry has asked the Centre to start the 2026-27 crushing season 10 to 15 days earlier than the usual 1 October. The Indian Sugar & Bio-energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA)…
The Story in Brief
The Indian sugar industry has asked the Centre to start the 2026-27 crushing season 10 to 15 days earlier than the usual 1 October. The Indian Sugar & Bio-energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA) and National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd say this will bring fresh sugar to the market ahead of the festive season, helping stabilise supply and prices. Sugar prices have risen 6.5% over the past month to Rs 50.7 per kg, as of 11 August, according to consumer ministry data.
But an early start could reduce sugar recovery and cane yields, because immature sugarcane contains less sucrose. ISMA has asked the government for support, including compensation for recovery losses. Sugarcane acreage has fallen marginally to 5.83 million hectares, down 31,000 hectares from last year. The government has assured adequate stocks; sugar production in 2025-26 is estimated at 28 million tonnes against annual demand of 28-28.5 million tonnes.
The Indian Opinion
The sugar industry's early-crushing plea is a classic squeeze: mills want to cash in on festive demand, but farmers may get penalised for harvesting immature cane. The one-sided narrative that 'early crushing helps consumers' ignores the risk of lower sucrose yields hurting mill profitability and farmer payments. The real test will be the government's eventual support package. Will it cover recovery losses fairly, or will mills pass the cost down to cane growers, repeating past exploitation? The compensation formula, not the calendar date, will tell us who this policy truly serves.
Source: livemint.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
