Sugarcane arrears to farmers touched nearly ₹19,000 crore as on June 18 of the ongoing marketing year ending September with maximum amount owed by mills in Uttar Pradesh, according to government data.

Mills in Uttar Pradesh owe the maximum amount at ₹11,082 crore, followed by Karnataka (₹1,704 crore) and Maharashtra (₹1,338 crore).

Punjab millers are yet to pay ₹989 crore to sugarcane growers, while those in Gujarat and Bihar have an outstanding of ₹965 crore and ₹923 crore, respectively, official data showed.

“Payment of cane price to farmers by the sugar mills is a continuous process. However, on account of surplus production during the previous sugar seasons, prices remained depressed which adversely affected the liquidity of the mills resulting in accumulation of cane arrears to farmers,” Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

According to government data, the total dues of sugarcane farmers as on June 18 of the 2018-19 marketing year (October-September) stood at ₹18,958 crore.

Paswan said that a number of steps have been taken in the last one year to boost the liquidity position of sugar mills so that they can clear their cane arrears.

According to industry body ISMA, the country’s sugar output during the 2017-18 marketing year was a record 32.5 million tonnes. In 2018-19, it estimates the production to surpass last year’s level.

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