NEWS

India's largest sugar-producing state, Uttar Pradesh, has increased the price mills must pay for the new crop by 7.9%, announcing the first increase in cane prices in four years, ahead of state assembly elections next year.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the state government has decided to increase the price that mills pay sugarcane growers for the 2021-2022 season (starting from October 2021) to 340 rupees per 100 kg.
After raising sugarcane prices by 3.3% to 315 rupees per 100 kg in the 2017-2018 season, Uttar Pradesh kept the rate unchanged, fueling irritation among millions of farmers, an influential electoral group.

"The government on Sunday raised the price of sugarcane by just 25 rupees per 100 kg, the first increase in four years during which the cost of cultivation rose as diesel, energy, labor, insecticide and pesticide prices rose dramatically", said Sudhir Panwar, an expert on agricultural policy from Uttar Pradesh.