Centre imposes stock limit on sugar for Sept, Oct to check hoarding

The Dollar Business Bureau

In order to prevent hoarding of sugar and to check the prices during the upcoming festive season, the Government on Tuesday imposed limit on stock holding on sugar producers for September and October.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (10 of 1955) read with the clause 5 of the Sugar (Control) Order, 1966, the Central Government hereby directs that no producer of sugar shall hold any stock of sugar in excess of quantities,” said Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution said in a notification.

By the end of September, sugar mills will not be permitted to stock more than 21% of the total sugar available with them during 2016-17 and the mills have to bring down this stock to the level of 8% by the end of October.

The Central Government has also authorised the state governments to enforce the orders to ensure adequate availability of the sugar.

The overall availability of sugar for an individual producers is to be calculated by taking into account the opening stock of sugar with them as on October 1, 2016 plus sugar produced during sugar season 2016-17 and subtracting it with the sugar exported and sugar imported during 2016-17 season.

The step taken by the government is aimed at preventing sugar mills from withholding stock in order to increase prices of the sweetener during the peak demand in the festive season of September and October. 

Sugar production in the country was recorded at 203 lakh tonnes in the 2016-17 as compared to the consumption of 250 lakh tonnes, a gap of 47 lakh tonnes, which had been managed by the Government with a buffer stock of around 77 lakh tonnes.