Sugar millers may lure cane growers with higher pay

PUNE: Sugar millers in Maharashtra are gearing up to pay higher prices to farmers than that mandated by the government as they anticipate shortage of cane in the next season while prices are likely to remain firm.

The prevailing sugar prices suggest that many sugar mills will have to pay higher price for sugarcane than the recommended fair and remunerative price or FRP, BB Thombre, chairman of Natural Sugar and Allied Industries told ET.

“We will review the financial position of the mills next month and take a decision about how much more money mills will have to pay to farmers, above the FRP,” Thombre said. The area under cultivation of sugarcane in Maharashtra, the leading state in the country in terms of output, is expected to decline 25% in the 2016-17 season compared to that in the current season due to two consecutive years of drought.

Mills in Maharashtra crushed 741 lakh tonnes of sugarcane and produced 83.79 lakh tonnes of sugar in the ongoing season, which begins in November.