by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Commodities, Commodities News, Economy, Emerging Businesses, Markets, News, SMEs
New Delhi : Sugar production in the country crossed a record 31 million tonnes mark this year and the total production will be around 32 million tonnes when the season ends, the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said on Thursday.
“Till April 30, sugar mills have produced 31.03 million tonnes of sugar in the current season. With 130 sugar mills still operating, majorly in Uttar Pradesh, it is expected that sugar production during the current season might end up between 31.5-32 million tonnes,” it said in a statement.
According to ISMA, sugar mills in Maharashtra produced 10.65 million tonnes till April 30 and barring 15 mills all others in the state had ended their operations.
“As regards Uttar Pradesh, they have produced 11.2 million tonnes of sugar till April 30 and 80 out of 119 sugar mills are continuing their crushing. Some of these mills are closing fast, whereas few are expected to continue crushing till the second week of May 2018,” it said.
In Karnataka, all the sugar mills have stopped their operations and they produced 3.63 million tonnes during the current season.
“Sugar production in Bihar, Punjab and Haryana during the current season has reached record levels in their history at 0.71 million tonne, 0.8 million tonne and 0.72 million tonne respectively. While all mills in Bihar have stopped crushing, a few mills in Punjab and Haryana are still operating,” it said.
In Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, the production was 1.09 million tonnes and 0.71 million tonnes respectively. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana collectively produced 0.53 lakh tonnes.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Commodities, Commodities News, Corporate, Corporate Buzz, SMEs
By Saurabh Katkurwar,
New Delhi : There is good news for those with a sweet tooth. Sugar prices have fallen in the last one month and are expected to remain low for the coming months.
The price of sugar in the retail markets in major cities have dipped Rs 1-4 per kg in the last one month while the rates have slumped by up to Rs 9 in some cities in the northeastern states, according to government data.
While industry sources claimed the retail prices would not to go beyond Rs 40-42 per kg till the 2017-18 sugar season ends in September, the government said the price trend of will be clear by February.
Enforcement of a cap on the stock limit for a longer period due to the Gujarat elections is said to be the major reason for the situation, which, millers said, has become “loss-making” for them.
“The picture will be clear by February how prices are going to move. However, prices this year should be at comfortable and reasonable levels for consumers to procure from the market,” Subhasish Panda, Joint Secretary (Sugar) of the Department of Public Distribution, told IANS.
Retail prices differ from place to place but the average price in the major cities is currently hovering around Rs 40 per kg and industry sources anticipate they could even fall to Rs 38 in the coming months.
In Delhi and Mumbai, the prices have come down from Rs 41 on December 14 to Rs 40 on January 14, as per the figures provided by the Consumer Affairs Ministry.
Similarly, the prices have decreased by Rs 1 in Kolkata, by Rs 2 in Chennai and by Rs 3 in Lucknow.
In the case of Gangtok, Imphal and Vijaywada, the dip is substantial as prices fell by Rs 9, Rs 8 and Rs 5, respectively, in just 30 days.
The current situation is against the fundamentals of pricing and retailers were making money, the sugar producers said.
Some of them held the government’s decision to put a cap on the stock limit for a longer time responsible for the dip in prices, which are leading to losses at the production level.
“The government could not lift the cap on the stock limit by the traders till December 19 due to the Gujarat elections. When it was removed, the festival season had almost come to end. Post-Christmas, the demand goes down,” said one miller, who wished not to be named.
The cap restricted traders from storing over 500 tonnes, Similarly, there was a cap on the mills — not over eight per cent of total production in October and 21 per cent in November.
According to the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories (NFCSF), sugar production this year has been better as about 501 mills across the country have produced 125.20 lakh tonnes of sugar till January 10, as against 97.40 lakh tonnes during the same period last year.
The demand from the market has slowed down, causing lower returns to the sugar mills.
At present, the ex-mill sugar realisation ranges between Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,350 per quintal at the national level, while the production cost is about Rs 3,400 Rs 3,500, millers said.
Notably, the ex-mill price was above Rs 3,500 per quintal till the cap on the stock limit was in force.
The government is expecting the sugar industry would recover as demand increases in due course of time, but the millers are saying otherwise.
According to the people from the industry, the demand was likely to increase in the Indian peninsular region in March and in the northern parts of the country in June as sugar consumption goes up during summer.
However, it would not have much impact on the prices owing to the prediction of higher production in 2017-18, they said.
“The prices will range between Rs 38-40 at least till October. Even if there is a surge, it will not go over Rs 42 in major cities. The government is comfortable with it,” one miller said.
In 2016-17, the government was seen taking several steps such as the cap on stock limit and higher duties to arrest the price rise in the domestic markets in the wake of low production.
(Saurabh Karkutwar can be contacted at saurabh.k@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Commodities, Commodities News, Commodity Market, Economy, Investing, Markets, News, Politics
New Delhi : The union government has imposed stock limit on sugar mills to keep sugar prices under control during the festive season and also enabled states to impose control measures on traders of onion in view of “abnormal rise” in its prices in recent weeks despite better production than last year.
Food and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Tuesday that stock limit had been imposed on sugar mills for the next two months.
Paswan said in tweets that there was “no shortage” of sugar for domestic consumption in the country.
“For keeping the prices of sugar under control during the festival months of September and October 2017, stock limits have been imposed on sugar mills,” he said.
“Stock limit for September 2017 is 21 per cent of total sugar available with sugar mills during 2016-17 sugar season. Stock limit for October 2017 is 8 per cent of total sugar available with sugar mills during 2016-17 sugar season,” he added.
India is the second largest producer of sugar in the world. The government had last month increased import duty on sugar to 50 per cent to control the dumping of sugar in the country when international prices go down.
Sugar prices in the country are currently above Rs 40 per kg in the retail market while branded sugar is priced over Rs 50 per kg.
In another decision, the government also enables states and union territories to impose control measures on traders and dealers of onion to ensure its adequate availability at reasonable prices.
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on Tuesday said in a press release that the government had on August 25 notified its decision that states could now impose stock limits on onions and take measures for de-hoarding and action against speculators and profiteers.
“This has been necessitated due to the abnormal rise in prices of onions in recent weeks particularly from July-end of this year onwards, though the production and supply of onions in the market is better than last year during the same period,” the release said.
It said that as per all India average retail price, the prices have increased from Rs 15 per kg to Rs 28.94 per kg. In the metros, the rise has been even steeper — Rs 31 per kg in Chennai, Rs 38 per kg in Delhi, Rs 40 per kg in Kolkata and Rs 33 per kg in Mumbai.
“After examination of all the circumstances, the government has inferred that there are some reasons other than shortage of onions contributing to the abnormal price rise of onions like hoarding, speculation etc.,” the release said.
It said there was need to enable states to take action against those traders who were engaged in speculative trading, hoarding and profiteering in onions.
“The measure is expected to bring the prices of onions down to a reasonable level to give an immediate relief to the consumers,” it added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Commodities
New Delhi, (IANS) India’s annual wholesale price index (WPI) accelerated into the positive terrain after staying in negative zone for 17 straight months, official data showed on Monday. India Inc expressed mixed reactions to the numbers.
The annual WPI moved up to 0.34 percent for April, from (-)0.85 percent in March and (-)2.43 percent during the corresponding month of the previous year.
The upward movement mainly occurred on the back of a rise in the prices of pulses, potatoes, sugar, edible oils, egg, meat, fish and milk.
The data furnished by the commerce ministry showed that among the three major sub-indices of the WPI, the inflation rate for the index of primary articles, and fuels and power in April increased by 2.1 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively, on a month-to-month basis.
Similarly, the index for manufactured products, which has the highest weightage in the WPI rose by 0.8 percent month-on-month.
On a year-on-year basis, the April data disclosed that prices of primary articles rose 2.34 percent, whereas the manufactured product edged up by 0.71 percent.
Food articles inflation jumped to 4.23 percent due to higher prices of tea, pulses, poultry and fruits and vegetables.
During the month under review, some commodities of mass consumption continued to upset household budgets, notable among them being pulses, whose prices were higher by as much as 36 percent over the like month of the previous year. Potatoes were dearer by 35.45 percent.
Other food items such as wheat and vegetables recorded modest price increases. Wheat was dearer by 2.22 percent, and vegetables by 2.21 percent.
Even under the manufactured products category, prices of commodities pertaining to processed food rose — especially sugar that was higher by 16.07 percent, followed by food products which were up by 8.01 percent.
The edible oil prices increased by 5.61 percent.
Notwithstanding the upward price trend, fuels prices fell. The fuel and power index was down 4.83 percent — petrol was cheaper by 4.18 percent and diesel by 3.94 percent. Cost of cooking gas fell by 18.4 percent.
In addition, the ministry revised the rate of the headline inflation for February. The WPI inflation was revised higher to (-) 0.85 percent from (-)0.91 percent which was reported on March 14 this year.
The rise in WPI comes after the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for April showed an upward movement in annual retail inflation, which rose to 5.39 percent from 4.83 percent in March.
The rise in both the inflation indices, coupled with a forecast of a slight delay in the arrival of monsoon has reduced the chances of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) further easing its key lending rates during the monetary policy review scheduled in June.
India Inc expressed mixed reactions to the latest inflation data.
“While some price pressure is noted in case of select food items, we don’t foresee any significant change in the near term in the inflation trajectory,” industry chamber FICCI’s president Harshavardhan Neotia said in a statement here.
“While the latest monsoon forecast shows a delay by about a week, we hope that the meteorological department’s overall prediction will hold and would provide reprieve in the months ahead,” he added.
Industry body Assocham said upward movement in “WPI was likely due to the commitment shown by the Centre to support industry together with the recent RBI policy stance to reduce interest rates to kick start investment and credit cycle”.
“Price of products of national interest including pulses, food articles, cereals, and wheat have been continuously rising, the policymakers should check and address this through supply side responses,” said Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) president Sunil Kanoria.
“The April 2016 WPI figures may give some relief to manufacturers and producers which was limiting their potential to increase their pricing power and profitability,” he added.
Fitch group company India Ratings and Research said: “Clearly, a rate cut in RBI’s June policy review is ruled out. Although Ind-Ra still expects at least one more rate cut this fiscal but it will be contingent upon the monsoon and how it plays out.
“So far as positive manufacturing inflation in April is concerned it is still early to believe that this is indicative of the return of pricing power of manufacturing sector. We may of wait for a trend to emerge on this account.”
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Large Enterprise
New Delhi : (IANS) The sugar production in the country in 2015-16 stood at 237 lakh tons, down by about 11 lakh tons as compared to the previous foscal, as per data released by Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA).
The fall in the sugar production was widely expected with only 215 sugar mills operating in the current season as compared to 366 mills last year, ISMA said.
Maharashtra produced 82 lakh tons sugar till Thursday (the last day of the current fiscal), as compared to 93.6 lakh tons sugar in the last year. Only 58 sugar mills are currently operative in the state as compared to 135 sugar mills working last year, while drought-like conditions are said to have affected the sugar production in the state.
Sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh produced 65.7 lakh tons in the current fiscal, as compared to 63.4 lakh tons last year with only 48 operational as against 76 sugar mills last year. Due to the good weather conditions in the state and substantial improvement in cane varieties and their acreage, the average sugar recovery from the state in fact, has been significantly higher, said ISMA.
The sugar mills in Karnataka have produced 40.16 lakh tons in the current season while Tamil Nadu has produced 8 lakh tons, it said.
The current year’s sugar production has been almost equal to the domestic consumption with 11.5 lakh tons of sugar exported in the current season, it added.
ISMA also said that there are reports which suggest that due to less rainfall and lower water availability in reservoirs in some districts in Maharashtra and North Karnataka, sugar production during 2016-17, will be lower than the current fiscal.
However, the acreage under early variety of sugarcane in UP is expected to go up to around 40 percent in 2016-17.
Similarly, after two years of drought-like conditions in Tamil Nadu, the state has received good rainfall in 2015 and, therefore, the acreage in Tamil Nadu is expected to increase in the next season.
Thus, the lower expected sugar production from Maharashtra and Karnataka is expected to be significantly compensated by higher production from Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, reducing the net fall for the country in next fiscal significantly, said ISMA.
Reports from international as well as domestic agencies suggests that the dry spell in India is over and the monsoon this year will be normal, which is likely to bring good tidings for sugarcane planting next year.
