Free sale quota of 23.50 lakh tonnes of sugar fixed for the month of September

29-Aug-2024 01:40 PM

New Delhi. The Union Food Ministry has allocated a total quota of 23.50 lakh tonnes of sugar for mills across the country for sale in the open market in September 2024, which is more than the quota of 22 lakh tonnes fixed for August but less than the quota of 24 lakh tonnes fixed for July.

The Food Minister has said in a post released on the social media platform x (old non-Twitter) that a monthly free sale quota of 23.50 lakh tonnes of sugar has been fixed for September. The ministry is likely to release a detailed statement of mill-wise quota allocation of sugar in the next one or two days.

According to informed sources, some mills had sold more sugar than their allotted quota during June-July, so now the ministry has made some cuts in its general approved quota.

Generally, in view of the festivals, it was estimated that the free sale quota for September would be 24.50-25.00 lakh tonnes of sugar, but the actual quota has been fixed one to one and a half lakh tonnes less than that. This is unlikely to put pressure on the domestic market price.

As far as the total annual domestic consumption of sugar is concerned, there are indications of a huge increase in it once again.

During the marketing season of 2022-23 (October-September), about 276.50 lakh tonnes of sugar was consumed in the country, whereas in the current marketing season of 2023-24, it is expected to reach a peak level of 291.50 lakh tonnes.

During the last five years, domestic consumption of sugar has increased by 20 percent and production by 17 percent.

The government is now fixing a practical monthly quota of sugar in accordance with domestic demand and need.

Sugar production is expected to increase from 274.10 lakh tonnes in the 2019-20 season to 320 lakh tonnes in 2023-24, while sugar consumption is expected to jump from 243 lakh tonnes to 291.50 lakh tonnes during the same period.