UP raises molasses quota for sugar mills from 19% to 25%
Uttar Pradesh has increased the reserved molasses quota for sugar mills from 19% to 25% under the 2025-26 policy to ensure steady supply for country liquor production. Distilleries must lift allocations on time, while mills must release monthly and quarterly quantities. The policy includes tighter monitoring, reduced wastage limits, and export restrictions.
The Uttar Pradesh Molasses Policy 2025-26 has raised the quarterly molasses supply target for sugar mills from 19% to 25%, making it mandatory for mills to release one-fourth of their reserved molasses every quarter for country liquor production. For the fiscal year 2024-25, the state government had allocated 19% of molasses. The policy aims to ensure a steady supply of raw material to distilleries that contribute nearly 48.5% of the state’s excise revenue, officials said.
The period from November 1 of each year to October 31 of the following year is considered the molasses year.
The policy was formulated under the guidance of minister of state (Independent Charge) for excise and prohibition Nitin Agarwal. Officials said the move is intended to ensure the availability of quality and standardised legal country liquor at affordable prices and to curb the consumption of illicit liquor, which often leads to loss of lives.
For the molasses year 2025-26, the requirement for country liquor production has been estimated at 105.47 lakh cusecs in terms of B-heavy molasses. Based on an estimated combined production of 585.9 lakh cusecs of B-heavy and C-heavy molasses, an adequate reserve will be maintained to meet the industry’s needs. The extraction ratio between reserved and unreserved molasses has been determined at 1:4.56.
Sugar mill groups will have to ensure that at least 8% of their total annual reserved molasses is supplied at the end of each month, and 25% is released in each quarter, the policy stated. Molasses allottees must supply or lift the molasses within 30 days of receiving lifting permission through the official portal. Failure to comply may result in the Molasses Controller imposing a partial or complete ban on unreserved molasses supply.
Similarly, distilleries that fail to lift their allocated molasses within the stipulated timeframe will face action under relevant excise rules.
Export of molasses to other states or countries will be permitted only if sufficient quantities remain available to meet the state’s own demand.
To promote ease of doing business, the policy allows storage of molasses in containers of capacity approved by the Molasses Controller and Excise Commissioner instead of traditional tanks. Khandsari sugar manufacturing units will be permitted to store molasses in smaller containers and transport them in GPS-equipped vehicles.
A Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) will be set up to oversee policy implementation and molasses estimation.
For better revenue control, the permissible collection wastage has been reduced from 2% to 1.5% of the total molasses stored in a sugar mill during a molasses year. The permissible leakage during transportation has also been fixed at 0.5% instead of the earlier 0.1%
Officials said the new policy strikes a balance between industry demand, state revenue needs, and consumer safety, ensuring a transparent and efficient system for managing molasses supply across Uttar Pradesh.
To Read more about Sugar Industry continue reading Agriinsite.com
Source : Hindustan Times
