The Centre decided to extend the stock limit order imposed on sugar traders by six months till 8th January, 2010, to curb any rise in prices of the sweetener.
On 9th March, 2009, the government had issued the notification, valid for four months, to check sugar hoarding. The decision to extend the validity of the de-hoarding notification was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“This (extension of the order) is expected to help in the efforts being undertaken to tackle the problem of rising prices of sugar and also improve its availability,” Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
The Prime Minister has also directed Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar to talk to chief secretaries of states through video-conferencing and insist on implementing stock limits.
Under the stock limit order, a dealer can stock up to 2,000 quintals of sugar. However, the limit is 10,000 quintals in Kolkata, which is the largest trading centre for the commodity in the country.
While the Centre has prescribed the maximum quantity a trader can keep, states are free to lower it. It also prescribed that a trader has to sell his stocks within 30 days from the date he receives the sugar.
The Centre has recently asked states to implement the the stock limit order on sugar as only five states have notified it so far while two states have promised to enforce it soon.
At a meeting of state food secretaries here last week, the Centre pointed out that it has been repeatedly requesting state governments and union territories to implement stock holding and turnover limits, but there are a number of states that have not even responded.
Of the 10 states that responded to the Centre’s request, Sikkim, Tripura and Puducherry said that they do not require to implement the Central order in their respective states, while Madhya Pradesh and Haryana have promised to enforce it.
The stock limit order is being implemented only in Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab, Karnataka and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
As many states are yet to notify the stock holding and turnover limits, the order of the Central government is not getting implemented.
Though sugar prices are currently stable in the domestic market, the government does not want to take any chances for any rise in the sugar prices during the festival season, officials said.
The prices of the sugar have risen by over 25 per cent since October when the 2008-09 season began as production is estimated to decline to 15 million tonnes from 26.4 million tonnes in the previous season (October-September).
The annual domestic demand of the sweetener stands at 22.5 million tonnes.
Govt hikes jute MSP by 10 pc to Rs 1,375 per qtl
The Government increased by 10 per cent the minimum support price of jute to Rs 1,375 per quintal for 2009-10.
The decision to hike jute’s minimum support price (MSP) for the TD-5 grade (ex-Assam) was taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in New Delhi.
“The increase in the MSP is expected to encourage the farmers to step up investment in jute cultivation…,” Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after the CCEA meeting.
The Jute Corporation of India (JCI) would continue to act as nodal agency to undertake price support operations and the losses, if any, will be fully reimbursed by the government.
Jute production is estimated at 95.31 lakh bales during the 2008-09 season, compared with 102.21 lakh bales in the previous season. One bale is 180 kgs.
The bulk of the jute production in the country comes from West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura.
Jute-Mill