Sugar Industry Faces Crisis With Unchanged MSP For Five Years, Claims Federation Representative

The sugar industry in the country has been facing problems as the Centre has not increased its Minimum Support Price since five years, a sugar units federation representative claimed on Tuesday.

Problems like short margins in working capital, debts may arise in the sugar industry again as the central government does not take fast decisions, National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Limited director Jaiprakash Dandegaonkar told PTI.

"The government has increased the Fair and Remunerative Price of sugarcane three times but there is no hike in the MSP of sugar. All state federations have been demanding it for five years, but the government is not thinking positively about it," he said.

Such policies are posing a problem for the sugar industry, he claimed.

"We are just demanding the cost of production of sugar. We want at least Rs 41 (per kg) as the cost of production. The cost of sugarcane has been hiked, transportation costs have gone up and labour charges have also been increased. But the price of sugar remains the same," Dandegaonkar said.