The government has decided to make available 19.97 lakh tonnes of sugar for the month of October this year.
The sugar released includes 2.47 lakh tonnes of levy sugar and 17.50 tonnes of non-levy (free sale) sugar, an official statement said here today.
This quantity is sufficient to meet the internal demand of sugar for the month of October, 2011, it added.
In October, India would be celebrating festivals like Dussehra and Diwali.
The sugar factory shall sell/deliver and dispatch the entire non-levy quantity released for the month of October, 2011, only within the validity period of the release order that is up to October 31, it said.
Recently, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had said the government was considering an increase in the percentage of levy sugar to make more sugar available through the public distribution system.
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At present, sugar mills are required to provide 10% of their total production as levy sugar.
Pawar had said sugar production for the next season "is not going to be bright".
Sugar output in the current sugar season had declined from 263 lakh tonne to about 160 lakh tonne against the domestic requirement of 225-230 lakh tonne, which had put pressure on the prices, the minister had said.
In recent weeks, the rates of sugar have reached about Rs 30 a kg in the retail market from Rs 17-18 per kg a year ago.