Sugar mills owe Rs 1,233 cr to cane growers till Aug

Sugar mills owe Rs 1,233 crore to sugarcane growers as on 31 August of 2012-13 marketing year that ended last month.According to the food ministry data, sugar mills have already paid Rs 49,899 crore till 31 August of 2012-13 marketing year [October-September], while the cane arrears stood at Rs 1,233 crore.The total cane price payment is estimated at Rs 51,132 crore for the entire 2012-13 marketing year, against Rs 44,530 crore in the previous year, the data showed.Of the total cane arrear, Uttar Pradesh mills accounted for a maximum of Rs 440.84 crore, followed by Tamil Nadu at Rs 304 crore and Uttarkhand at Rs 151.89 crore.However, cane arrears in Maharashtra, the country’s largest sugar producing state, were mere Rs 16 crore.The Centre had fixed the Fair and Remunerative Price [FRP] of sugarcane at Rs 145 per quintal for the 2012-13 marketing year. Sugar mills had produced 26.2 million tonnes of sugar in the 2011-12 marketing year, as against 24.42 million tonnes in the previous year. The country’s annual domestic demand is 22 million tonnes.