Oct-Sep sugar output seen short of target at 12 mt

India's sugar output in 2004-05 (October-September) is estimated at 12 million tonnes, an official of the Indian Sugar Mills Association said Wednesday. This falls short of the government projection of 13.5 million tonnes for the season.

"We have a restricted projection than of the government. This is following all the data we have been able to collect," ISMA director general S L Jain said at a conference here today.

However, the lower output is not expected to impact domestic supply this season due to the 8.5-million-tonne carry-over stock from the previous year.

ISMA projects the sugar consumption for this season at 17.5 million tonnes, the same as the previous season.

It said the estimate of sugar output for next year is "substantially higher". However, the association said, as of now it was difficult to detail the quantum.

"We do expect a 100 per cent increase in Maharashtra and around 15-20 per cent increase in both Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh," Jain said. A sizeable increase was also expected in the import of raw sugar in the current season.

"We expect a 33 per cent increase in imports of raw sugar to the country this season, to touch 1.5 million tonnes, compared with 1 million tonnes in the previous season," ISMA President Vivek M. Pittie said.

Further, the sugar industry demanded clarity on the import of raw sugar under the advance licencing scheme. "Even though the position has been clarified by senior officials in the Central Board of Revenue, the consequential amendment has not been made in the relevant notification governing import and export policy," Pittie said.

To improve the availability of sugar on the domestic front, the government had facilitated easy import of raw sugar under the advance licencing scheme.

As per the policy, mills are allowed to import raw sugar without paying duty on the condition that they export a similar quantity of the finished product within 24 months of the import.

Meanwhile, the disbursal of bank credit to farmers grew 70.6 per cent during April-October to Rs 62,800 crore against Rs 36,800 crore a year ago, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Tuesday.

He said the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has been asked to increase credit disbursal to farmers to meet their resource constraints.

"Either Nabard or the Reserve Bank of India has to take the lead to push the credit flow in the agricultural sector. Unless they do so, scheduled banks would not be able to give farm credit at affordable rates," Pawar said at a conference of state agriculture ministers.

He said a dialogue was on with the ministry of finance to increase the repayment period for farmers to nine years for plantation and horticulture crops. This should include a moratorium of three years, Pawar said.

The banks have also been advised to implement a one-time settlement scheme for old loan accounts of small and marginal farmers, he said.

The minister said the target for flow of credit to the agriculture sector in 2004-05 (April-March), which was earlier fixed at 1.05 trillion rupees has been revised to Rs 1,14,000 crore.

These measures should have a positive effect on the well-being of farmers and should augur well for agricultural growth.