Sugar mills owe Rs 1,233 cr to cane growers till August

New Delhi: Sugar mills owe Rs 1,233 crore to sugarcane growers as on August 31 of 2011-12 marketing year that ended last month.

According to the Food Ministry data, sugar mills have already paid Rs 49,899 crore till August 31 of 2011-12 marketing year (October-September), while the cane arrears stood at Rs 1,233 crore.

The total cane price payment is estimated at Rs 51,132 crore for the entire 2011-12 marketing year, against Rs 44,530 crore in the previous year, the data showed.

Of the total cane arrear, Uttar Pradesh mills accounted for a maximum of Rs 440.84 crore, followed by Tamil Nadu at Rs 304 crore and Uttarkhand at Rs 151.89 crore.

However, cane arrears in Maharashtra, the country's largest sugar producing state, were mere Rs 16 crore.

The Centre had fixed the Fair and Remunerative Price ( FRP) of sugarcane at Rs 145 per quintal for the 2011-12 marketing year.

However, the states like Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttarkhand had announced State Advisory Price (SAP), which was much higher than the FRP. In Uttar Pradesh, cane price was around Rs 250 per quintal.

Sugar mills had produced 26.2 million tonnes of sugar in the 2011-12 marketing year, as against 24.42 million tonnes in the previous year. The country's annual domestic demand is 22 million tonnes.

On the back of surplus production, the country is exporting sugar. In 2011-12, about 3.5 million tonnes of the sweetener has been shipped.