Sugar flows north: The price of a stalled season – Editorial by Uppal Shah
Sugar market dynamics are shifting as Uttar Pradesh buyers procure sugar from Maharashtra amid stalled crushing operations caused by farmer protests over cane prices. Maharashtra ex-mill prices have reached ₹5,200/quintal, while UP prices stand at ₹5,600–5,700. Industry stakeholders are awaiting the Ramesh Chand committee’s recommendations on cane returns and sugar MSP.
Every sugar trader carries a mental map of how sugar moves across India. For as long as most of us have been in this business, the arrows on that map have been familiar ones. This week, quietly and almost without announcement, one of those arrows turned around.
The talk of the Maharashtra market is that Uttar Pradesh is buying. Buyers from the North are picking up sugar in Maharashtra, and dispatches have been reported to Kanpur. After so many years, sugar is moving from Maharashtra into Uttar Pradesh. That single trade tells us more about the state of this season than any balance sheet.
A season held at the weighbridge
The crushing season should have been gathering pace by now. Instead, in large parts of western Maharashtra it is being held at the weighbridge. From 27th October, Raju Shetti’s Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana launched its ‘Chavani Andolan’, setting up camps to stop cane transport to factories because a first instalment of Rs 4,500 per tonne had not been announced. In a single night, more than 300 tractors and bullock carts carrying cane were stopped, and supplies to the Krishna factory near Karad and the Rajarambapu factory in Sangli were disrupted. The Sanghatana has succeeded in bringing crushing to a halt at several mills in the region, and Shetti has warned of blocking national highways on 3rd November.
Across the border, the picture is no calmer. Karnataka’s growers are demanding Rs 5,500 per tonne for the 2026-27 season, well above the FRP of Rs 3,650 per tonne. The bandh has come and gone, and many roads and highways leading to sugar mills remain closed by protesters. Cane producers claim that farmers’ grievance over rising costs is genuine, and it deserves a hearing. But standing cane does not wait. Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has himself cautioned that delayed harvesting reduces the juice content of the crop and raises the risk of fires.
The market has already noticed
Markets read stalled crushers faster than any official report can. Ex-mill prices have moved firmly northwards, touching Rs 5,200 per quintal in Maharashtra and Rs 5,600 to 5,700 per quintal in Uttar Pradesh. ChiniMandi has said these in its market updates and editorials for months that prices would stay firm if the crop outlook remained uncertain, and that is how it has played out.
The foundation was always thin. The season opened with carryover stocks of around 36 lakh tonnes, among the lowest in several years. Uttar Pradesh appears tighter still, and its mills are expected to crush at full strength only after Diwali. Northern buyers are therefore reaching south and paying the freight to do it, while the western mills that would normally supply them are stopped at the gate. A surplus region that cannot crush is selling to a deficit region that has not yet begun.
The Government has not been idle, and its actions deserve recognition. The Centre has barred mills and distilleries from making ethanol from cane juice and B-heavy molasses for the 2026-27 ethanol supply year, so more of the crop stays as sugar. The Food Ministry fixed a quota of 13 lakh tonnes for the first fortnight of November, and according to the DFPD, sugar mills are permitted to sell, during the first fortnight of November, the sugar produced up to 15th November 2026, over and above their allocated sales quota for the first fortnight of November. This is applicable for sugar mills, starting crushing in November or already started crushing in October. The sugar mills which commenced crushing during October, 2026 are already permitted to sell the quantity of sugar produced during October, 2026 in the month of November. These are timely and progressive decisions. But a release order can only release sugar that has actually been made, and in a short, dry season every lost crushing day is supply that cannot be recovered later.
All eyes on the coming week
This is why the coming week matters so much. On 14 October, the Centre constituted a four-member committee under former NITI Aayog member Prof. Ramesh Chand to examine the concerns of sugarcane farmers. Its mandate includes reviewing remunerative returns for growers, the Minimum Selling Price (MSP) of sugar. According to farmer leader Raju Shetti, the committee is expected to visit Maharashtra on 4 November, following its visit to Karnataka. Shetti also indicated that the committee is expected to submit its report before Diwali, with the Centre likely to announce its decision by 20 November. Farmers across Maharashtra’s sugar belt will be watching these developments closely, hoping that the consultations translate into concrete action on cane prices and the wider concerns facing the industry.
I firmly believe the committee can turn this impasse into a turning point. The arithmetic is not complicated. The sugar MSP has stayed at Rs 31 per kg since 14th February, 2019, while the FRP has risen from Rs 2,750 to Rs 3,650 per tonne. Karnataka’s mills have already assured that any increase in the sugar MSP will be passed on to farmers. The next logical step is an early interim signal from the committee, firm enough for mills to announce a first instalment and for farmers to bring their cane back to the weighbridge. The full recommendations can follow; the season cannot wait for them.
There is a responsibility on the ground as well. The agitation has made its point, and it has been heard in Delhi. Keeping cane moving while the committee completes its work would protect the farmer’s own crop as much as it would protect the market.
The arrows on our map will turn back in time. If the coming week brings a clear signal, the crushers in Kolhapur and Sangli will run again, the godowns will start to fill, and sugar can once again travel the roads it knows best.
For further inquiries please contact Uppal Shah, Editor-in-Chief, at Uppal@chinimandi.com.
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Source : ChiniMandi
