The Food Ministry has allowed mills to complete the sale of July quota of sugar in open market till this month-end, sugar industry bodies said today.
The government sets a target for millers to sell sugar, known as non-levy sugar, in open market every month. In July, the aim was to sell 14.50 lakh tonnes of sugar.
"We have got extension till August 31 to complete the sale of sugar quota released for the month of July," Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) Deputy Director General M N Rao said.
"Mills have got a month's extra time to sell the July quota," National Federation of Co-operative Sugar Factories (NFCSF) Managing Director Vinay Kumar said.
Recently, industry bodies ISMA and NFCSF had demanded that the mills should be allowed to sell the July non-levy quota in August, citing poor demand from bulk consumers like ice-cream and beverage companies.
Millers could not sell the entire July quota of sugar within the stipulated time owing to poor offtake from bulk consumers, who account for 60 per cent of the country’s annual sugar demand of 23 million tonnes.
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Bulk consumers are meeting their sugar demand through imports after the government had imposed stock-holding limit to curb rising prices of sweetener that touched nearly Rs 50 per kg in mid-January.
The government had imposed stock-holding limit on bulk users asking them not to store sugar that meets more than 15 days of their requirement.
The retail prices have declined by about 36 per cent in last seven months on account of improved availability situation owing to higher domestic output as well as imports.
India’s sugar output is estimated to touch 19.5 million tonnes in 2009-10 marketing year ending September.