Issues at Sugar Industry

Your leader on the need to address the issues that plague the country's Sugar Industry is timely.

Given the fact that we are reaching new highs in terms of total sugar produced in the country with surpluses being seen at the same time globally, we need innovative policies and location specific support so that the stake holders are protected when the down side becomes steep. Today the sugar industries have multiple revenue streams through export of Power and Ethanol. In some locations some of the factories are even buying Bagasse for burning and producing power.

Under such a scenario, one has to address the Sugar co-operatives, mills and companies to make reasonable profit out of their by products, be it Ethanol or Power produced from their co generation plants. They should be encouraged to sell their power at the highest cost toady ( Rs.7.45 per KWH). This is feasible only if the restrictive provisions on the Power Trader are removed and the trader is incentivised with appropriate margins to pool these stand alone resources, collate and sell.

Similarly the blending of ethanol is being talked about for a while. It is the appropriate time to encourage and provide additional incentives to the industry through special prices for ethanol at this time.

A holistic approach from a macro perspective needs to be taken to support this sector at this stage.