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India set to choose quickly on sugar asking price, ethanol use

India will decide on sugar industry calls for a hike in the minimum selling price ( MSP) in the coming days, a senior government official stated on Saturday, adding that ethanol policies would be set before the start of the next season.

India, the world's largest sugar customer, restricted the usage of sugar in ethanol production during the 2023/24 marketing year that ends on Sept. 30 and likewise forbade exports to keep a. cover on domestic prices.

We are going over the MSP (proposal). In the coming days,. we will hopefully take a call, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra. informed press reporters during a conference.

The sugar-processing industry has actually been demanding a boost. in the minimum market price, stating the federal government has raised. the obligatory procurement price of sugarcane recently. while the MSP has actually remained the same given that 2019.

Industry bodies state a greater MSP would enable them to make. prompt payments to millions of sugarcane farmers in the upcoming. season beginning on Oct. 1.

Chopra said the production outlook for the next season has. improved due to great monsoon rainfall and increased sugarcane. acreage, allowing the federal government to create policies for the. next year.

The sugarcane area has edged up to 5.77 million hectares. ( 14.3 million acres) from 5.7 million hectares (14.1 million. acres) a year earlier, farm ministry data revealed.

We ought to be having very healthy stocks at the end of the. present sugar season, which would permit us to have better. preparation of its diversion in the next year, Chopra stated,. describing sugar's usage in ethanol production.

India is anticipated to begin the brand-new marketing year with. carryover stocks of 8 million to 8.5 million metric heaps, he. said.

(source: Reuters)