The government may impose import duty on sugar in August as it expects a bumper crop, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said here on Saturday.
“We will be getting the sowing data till the first week of August and after that we will take a decision on this issue,” Mr. Pawar told reporters at a press meet.
Mr. Pawar said the sowing data available till date has been very encouraging.
For rice sowing, the area is up from 6.8 million hectares to 7.2 million, for jowar from 7.3 million hectares to 9.7 million hectares, bajra has gone up from 1.28 million hectares to 1.81 million, sugarcane from 4.1 million hectares to 4.7 million while the area under cotton has grown from 4.8 million hectares to 6.6 million hectares, he said.
Asked how much the present change in weather conditions would affect crop production, he said: “As per the meteorological department assessment, the country is expected to receive 98 percent rain in July and 102 percent in August.”
“If the report proves to be correct, I don’t think we will have any problem,” Mr. Pawar added.
