Lockdown: Working capital woes hit sugar mills as consumption dips

Industry seeks allocation of special fund to clear pending export subsidies

The extension of the coronavirus lockdown till May 3 has compounded the working-capital woes of domestic sugar mills owing to the steep fall in consumption, export hurdles, and a sudden dip in realisation in power co-generation.

“Our working capital is getting exhausted because of the slow offtake of sugar to the tune of more than 30 per cent, while the mills are mandated to make full payment to sugarcane farmers,” Vasudev Bannerjee, Simbhaoli, Sugars told Business Standard. He also rued that there was no central or state government support to the sugar mills at this critical juncture.

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