Food secretary see bright sugarcane prospects, insist

New -delhi, August 26 (PTI) ‘s food secretary Sanjeev Chopra said on Tuesday that the prospects for the sugarcane crop look bright and appealed to the industry bodies to reach a consensus on their claim to grant export quotas only to mills willing to send off their own facilities. “We have been looking for the view of the industry. They must develop a consensus among themselves, and then they have to come to us,” Chopra told Pti. “I can’t say that there is no consensus, but we didn’t receive anything from them. Once it comes, we can investigate all the points and then take a holistic view. ” Sugar exports are currently on a limited list, with the government controlling volumes by quotas that have been distributed to mills. The All India Sugar Trade Association (AISTA) recently said that the existing quota system, which distributes limited export allocations to all mills based on the production of the past, enables remote or export-relief mills to sell their quotas to others, leading to substantial quantities remaining. On the demands of the industry to increase the former Meal Prize of ethanol from B-Slow molasses and sugarcane juice/sugar/syrup, Chopra said: “We do not recommend it. The last review of the government for these prices was in November 2022, with current prices at £ 60.73 per liter for ethanol of B-heavy molasses and £ 65.61 per liter of sugarcane juice/syrup, which has remained unchanged ever since. While sugar production in the 2024-25 season ending next month “looks good, the prospects for the new sugarcane crop” are much better than last year, “he said.” We are still awaiting the forecasts of the Ministry of Agriculture. We will comment as soon as we have the estimates, “Chopra said.” Yields and production, everything looks good from now on. So it must be a good harvest. ” The secretary said the government had lifted restrictions on sugar for ethanol production according to their requirements in accordance with economic considerations. Remove. Hopefully it has to go well. Plus, broken rice is made available as feed, and there should be no problem now, “he said. Against a 5.2 million tonnes of broken rice for this year until October, the government expects it to pick up 3 million tonnes, he said.