The Maharashtra government is taking all steps to ensure India meets its commitment to export 15,000 tonnes of raw sugar to China from next year. A pact was inked recently between the Indian Sugar Mills Association and COFCO, a Chinese public sector company.
Export deal with China
A recent note from the Commerce and Industry Ministry said, “India plans to export 2MT of raw sugar to China from next year. Raw sugar is the second product after non-basmati rice that China will import from India. It is a move to reduce the $60-billion trade deficit that China has with India. India’s export to China in 2017-18 amounted to $33 billion while imports from China stood at $76.2 billion.”
Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh account for 70% of the 32 million metric tonnes of sugar produced this year and house 45% of the operating mills in the country.
Sugar mills in Maharashtra have been struggling after the bumper harvest in the last few years lead to a crash in prices. The mill owners have to pay dues of ₹600 crore to sugarcane farmers this year.
The State government plans to revive 40 defunct sugar mills and set new criteria for assisting ‘sick and closed’ sugar cooperatives. Its revival policy will cover mills that have been defunct for the last three years, working below 60% capacity, and failing to meet one of the three production cycles in the past three years.
The Cooperation, Textile and Marketing Department will be giving financial aid to such mills under the Centre’s 2005 directives to extend ‘friendly’ credit to millers. A senior bureaucrat said, “We have set up a committee under a principal secretary rank official who will tell us how many mills need financial aid and how much burden it will put on the state exchequer.”
Millers welcome plan
The millers have welcomed the revival plan, but want the government to identify the worst affected mills. B.B. Thombare, president, West India Sugar Mill Association, said, “There has been mismanagement in the past while assisting mills. The government must ensure a detailed study is carried out to ensure help reaches those who are most in need.”
