The prices of sugar in the country are rising with rising in mercury. The rise in demand has increased prices by Rs 20 per quintal.
According to traders, prices have firmed up by Rs 20 per quintal to be in Rs 3,130-3150 per quintal range for M Grade and at Rs 3,100 for S Grade. Earlier, prices were Rs 3,100-Rs 3,110 per quintal. The mills have achieved the target of selling a quota of 18 lakh tonne in April.
According to a Food Ministry order, sugar mills can sell 2.1 million tonnes of the sweetener in the open market in the current month, which sugar mills are likely to sell without any hurdle as demand is good and also prices have gone up.
The wedding season, increase in the consumption of beverages and the holiday season led to a rise in sugar prices.
The situation was different in March, and the millers were not happy when Centre fixed the quota to sell 24.5 lakh tonne sugar. The millers had demanded the government to extend quota to April as they were unable to sell sugar due to weak demand and were facing problems in clearing farmers dues.
Stating that rise in sale in May is a routine process, Prakash Naiknavare, MD, National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Mills, said the average sugar sales in May remains at 20.50 lakh tonne. The mills had sold 20.18 lakh tonne in May 2013, 17.80 lakh tonne in May 2014, 21.70 lakh tonne in May 2015, 18.57 lakh tonne in May 2016, and 23.20 lakh tonne in May 2017.
Whereas In May 2018, the scenario was little different as sugar mills had sold 30 lakh tonne sugar in the market on speculation that the Centre will fix minimum support price (MSP) for sugar, and therefore traders had made purchases in anticipation of a higher price.
