Cane SAP up Rs 10, growers to get highest rate in country

The Punjab Government has increased the State Agreed Price (SAP) on sugarcane by Rs 10 per quintal for the sugarcane crushing season that started today. With an SAP of Rs 401 per quintal (for early maturing sugarcane), cane growers in Punjab will get the highest rate in the country.

The SAP for the mid-maturing and late-maturing varieties of sugarcane has been fixed at Rs 391 per quintal, up from SAP of Rs 381 per quintal given in 2023-24.

But this has not gone down well with the private sugar mills in the state, which have the capacity to crush 70 per cent of the total sugarcane produced in the state. They have said that they would pay Rs 339.50 per quintal to the farmers, while the state government could pay the balance amount of Rs 61.50 per quintal of SAP to the farmers. In case of mid-maturing and late-maturing varieties, the private sugar mills will pay Rs 329.50 per quintal to farmers.

The assertion by representatives/ owners of the six private sugar mills in the state was made during their meeting with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann last week, where they pleaded that the price of sugar in the wholesale and retail prices was down by Rs 150 per quintal as compared to last year. The CM has agreed to pay Rs 61.50 per quintal directly to the farmers, who bring their cane for crushing to the private sugar mills.

Talking to The Tribune, Rana Inder Pratap Singh of Rana Sugars said that because of the high sugarcane production in Maharashtra and Karnataka this year, the wholesale prices of sugar have gone down to Rs 3,700 per quintal. “We, in Punjab, are still paying a higher price to cane growers than the price of Rs 315 per quintal notified by the Government of India,” he said.

This is the third year in a row that sugarcane SAP had been increased in the state. Last year, it was increased by Rs 11 per quintal. The area under sugarcane this year has increased by 5,000 hectares to 1 lakh hectares. As much as 700 lakh quintals of cane is expected to be crushed this year, with 500 lakh quintals to be crushed by private sugar mills and 210 lakh quintals by nine cooperative sugar mills. Punjab is expected to produce 62 lakh quintals of sugar in this crushing season.

Jangveer Singh Chauhan, president of Doaba Kisan Committee, said that though they had demanded a SAP of Rs 450 per quintal, they were happy that cane growers of Punjab had been given the highest price.