Madhya Pradesh Sugar Mills Association (MPSMA) has demanded that the State Government should follow Prime Minister’s advice and provide incentives. A meeting of the office-bearers of the MPSMA was held on Tuesday to discuss the difficulties faced by the industry due to global and domestic slowdown in sugar market.
The office-bearers raised concern over the current situation in that sugar prices have come down in past six to seven years, forcing the sugar industry to face financial crisis and shortage of cash liquidity.
The increased sugarcane prices are making payments difficult forcing the industry to face most difficult times. The association did brainstorming to come out of the situation.
MPSMA President Hemant Soni later told in a statement that if the solution of the crisis is not done within the time then the sugar industry would not be able to make payments on the rates of `230 per quintal announced by the State Government.
The association also came out with some suggestions for the State Government to resolve the problem. The suggestions include entry tax of 11 per cent on the sugar coming out of the State like Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. The sugar purchased for the PDS in the State should be bought directly from the sugar factories instead of buying from open market and acting on the suggestions of Prime Minister, incentives should be given for setting up molasses based ethanol units and bagasse based co-power generation units.A memorandum in this regard was also submitted by the association to Commissioner, sugarcane.