Trouble for sugar industry as govt goes back five years to penalise mills

Levy obligation abolished in 2013; penalty for defaults comes now

Amid mounting sugarcane dues and low prices, the country’s sugar mills have another reason to worry. The Centre has ordered them to pay for their past failures in meeting levy obligations in a surprise move that has come five years after the system was abolished.

The new directive, issued a few days back, mandates sugar mills that did not fulfil their levy obligations to pay the difference between the prevailing market rate and the levy sugar price of the season. 

Under the now-abandoned levy obligation system, every domestic producer was supposed to sell a certain portion of sugar to the