Cabinet approves hike in sugarcane fair price by Rs 25 per quintal for 2017-18

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday decided to increase fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane by Rs 25 per quintal to Rs 255 for 2017-18 season beginning October.

The sugarcane FRP for the ongoing 2016-17 season has been kept unchanged at Rs 230 per quintal.

The FRP is the minimum price that sugarcane farmers are legally guaranteed. However, state governments are free to fix their own state advised price (SAP) and millers can offer any price above the FRP.

The cane price is linked to a basic recovery rate of 9.5 percent, subject to a premium of Rs 2.68 per quintal for every 0.1 percent point increase in recovery above that level.

This is in line with the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), a statutory body that advises the government on the pricing policy for major farm produce.

Sugarcane output in the current year declined by over 12 percent to 306.03 million tonnes due to drought in key growing states Maharasthra and Karnataka.

However, the prospects in 2017-18 seem to be bright as the Met Deparment has forecast normal monsoon.

With PTI Inputs