Read More>> Pune: As sugarcane price arrears have started mounting in Maharashtra, the sugar industry in the state has demanded a package of Rs 500 crore to clear the legally binding fair and remunerative price (FRP) payments for the ongoing 2018-19 crushing season.
Declining domestic sugar prices coupled with slower pace of exports are likely to increase the arrears and add to the simmering farm distress in the country, according to industry
“Not only the prices have declined but there seems no scope that they will improve in future,” said former agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, who heads the Vasantdada Sugar Institute.
“With production cost of Rs 34 per kg, mills from Maharashtra have been bearing losses of Rs 4 per kg, which has made it difficult to pay the FRP to farmers.”
Pawar has demanded that on the lines of the relief packages announced by the state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, Mahara ..