Govt keeping close watch on sugar price: Paswan

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi: Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution,  Ram Vilas Paswan on November 10 reviewed prices and availability of sugar in the country at a meeting with senior officials of his Ministry. After review, he said that the government has taken necessary steps to maintain sufficient stocks in the country and keep the sugar prices under check.
Paswan said that during the current Sugar Season 2016-17, the country started with a carryover stock of 7.71 million MT (mMT) of sugar. The production of sugar has been estimated at about 22.52 mMT in the current sugar season. While the domestic consumption is estimated at about 25.5 mMT, the stock position at the close of the current sugar season (September  2017) is likely to be at 4.73 mMT which will be carried forward for the next sugar season 2017-18, according to a PIB release. Thus the total availability of sugar in the country would be sufficient to meet the domestic consumption.
The sugar production in the next sugar season (2017-18) is expected to be good and is likely to start early and therefore there will be no shortage of domestically produced sugar in India. By November 2017, another 2 mMT would be available from early crushing, he said.