Govt allocates more sugar for January compared to December

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The government has announced 22.5 lakh tonnes (lt) of sugar quota for sales in the open market during January 2025, which is 50,000 tonnes higher than the quota allocated for December 2024. However, compared with the quota in the year-ago period, the current allocation is 50,000 tonnes less. Industry sources termed the decision as a correct one based on the current demand.

Announcing the allocation, the Food Ministry, in a notification, said due to low demand in October 2024 and also based on the current ex-mill price and domestic demand scenario, mills which could not sell the entire quantity allocated for October will not face any penalty.

On the other hand, it has reduced the normal eligible quota for January for those mills which sold higher than the allotted quantity. As many as 91 mills faced a deduction in their quota to the tune of 1.75 lt, the notification showed.

State-wise allocation

According to the latest order, the sugar quota for Maharashtra has been fixed at 8.18 lt, Uttar Pradesh 6.86 lt and Karnataka 4.25 lt. Among other States, mills in Gujarat have got 67,490 tonnes quota, Bihar 47,972 tonnes, Haryana 42,011 tonnes, Tamil Nadu have 34,534 tonnes allocation, Madhya Pradesh 29,655 tonnes and Punjab 28,941 tonnes.

An industry official termed the January allocation as appropriate though the mills were expecting it to remain at December level. The allocation during the first four months of the current sugar season (October-September) is 92 lt.

Meanwhile, the government’s plan to link the online portal with the GSTN data will be effective from January 1. This will help the government to immediately find out if there is any mismatch in reporting actual sales of sugar to both authorities, sources said.

The government has also been considering steps to check those mills who have been regularly violating the monthly quota limit by selling more than the allocation, despite reduction in their quota as a penal action. A top official recently said that there are several provisions under which action could be taken against frequent violators of quota and the government would take such measures at the appropriate time.