Sugar factories heading for price war: experts

BELGAUM: Experts are predicting a price war among sugar industries in the district, a fallout of the drought.
The district is the sugar bowl of the state. As many as 18 private and cooperative sugar industries are functioning in the district, and 10 more are in the pipeline Besides, many of the factories have increased their crushing capacity in recent years.
The massive shortage of sugarcane has affected the functioning of the factories. According to sources in the agriculture department, sugarcane crop grown on more than 60,000 hectares has been affected due to scarcity of water this year. Raibag taluk was the most affected with 11,000 hectares followed by Gokak, Savadatti, Chikkodi, Bailhongal, Athani and Ramdurg taluks.
Says M Prabhu, director of S Nijalingappa Sugar Institute Belgaum, "around 40 per cent of sugarcane crop was affected due to drought. Many farmers ended up using the crop for fodder. Some even sold the crop to the district administration in the form of fodder. So factories were unable to work to full capacity during this season," he said. The shortage is likely to lead to a price war, he warned.
Sugarcane expert and farmers' leader Mohan Shah said that last year factories in the district had crushed more than 1 crore 10 lakh tonnes of sugarcane, but this year total production was not more than 60 lakh tonnes. Factories from Maharashtra buy some percentage of the sugarcane from border taluks like Chikkodi, Athani and Raibag. This is also a major worry for farmers in the district. "Factoring in all this we plan to push for Rs 3,500 per tonnes of sugarcane and Rs 2,500 in the first installment," Shah said.