New Delhi. Despite an important festival like Diwali approaching, a softening environment was observed in the mill delivery price and spot market price of sugar during the week of 19-25 October. The government had tried to put pressure on the market by releasing a free sale quota of 25.50 lakh tonnes of sugar for the month of October. The committee of ministers has currently postponed the proposal to increase the ex-factory minimum selling price (MSP) of sugar. The marketing season for crushing sugarcane and production of sugar in the domestic sector has formally started from October 1 itself. The industry has a good stock of sugar and it is expected to increase regularly in the future.

The tender price of sugar in Maharashtra and Karnataka fell by Rs 15 to Rs 55 per quintal, which also affected the spot market price. The tender price of sugar fell by Rs 50-55 to Rs 3475/3720 per quintal in Maharashtra and by Rs 15-50 to Rs 3515-3685 per quintal in Karnataka. The spot price of sugar in Kolkata remained stable at Rs 4050/4150 per quintal. The above data clearly indicates that the festive demand for sugar remained weak during the week under review and the business was also less than normal.