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Sugar price drop: Before the festive season, a very relieving news has come out for the common consumers and kitchen budget of the country. Due to the strict measures taken by the Central Government, there has been a strong brake on the prices of sugar which have been skyrocketing for the last few days. After strict government monitoring, green signal to import and crackdown on hoarders, ex-mill (factory) prices of sugar have registered a huge decline of 18 percent. With this, the price of sugar in mills has come down to Rs 55 per kg.

Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra has made it clear that with the increase in supply in the market, there will be further softening of sugar rates in the coming days.

Why did the price reach a record high of ₹67? Sugar price drop

Within the last 10 to 15 days, a sudden unexpected rise in the prices of sugar was seen in the domestic market. Ex-mill price had reached its record level of Rs 67 per kg. According to the Food Secretary, this spike was not due to any actual shortage, but due to sugar mills arbitrarily increasing rates and speculation in the market. Despite sufficient reserves of sugar in the country, the prices were artificially increased, which had a direct impact on the wholesale and retail markets.

those of the government 2 big decisions, which immediately broke the market

As soon as prices crossed Rs 67, the central government immediately took strict measures:

• Approval for import of 10 lakh tonnes of raw sugar: By opening the way to import sugar from the foreign market, the possibility of any kind of shortage in the market was completely eliminated.
• Stock limits and flying squads (Flying Squads) Deployed: Stock limit was fixed for big buyers. Special flying squads were deployed in the states to stop hoarding and illegal betting, which immediately curbed the profiteers.

When will there be relief in retail market??

According to the data of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, on August 24, the average wholesale price of sugar in the country was recorded at Rs 58.29 and retail price at Rs 63.05 per kg. Prakash Naiknavare, MD of National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories (NFCSF) clarified that at present the mill price in any state of the country is not more than Rs 55 per kg. Generally there is a difference of Rs 7 to 8 per kg between mill and retail prices. Since ex-mill rates have fallen, sugar will start becoming cheaper at local grocery stores in the next few days.

There is abundant stock of sugar in the country

The total production of sugar in the country for the marketing year 2025-26 is estimated to be around 306 lakh tonnes. Although this is slightly less than the previous estimate of 343 lakh tonnes, India’s annual domestic consumption remains only between 280 to 285 lakh tonnes. This means that there is surplus stock of sugar in the country more than the demand and there is no scope for shortage.