People worried about rising sugar prices have some good news from the government, which says the the sweetener is costing a bit less now.

The government has said the retail sugar price in Delhi has declined from Rs.47 on January 15 to Rs.43 since February 1.

Minister of Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Sharad Pawar gave this information in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha Tuesday.

The government has taken a slew of measures to augment domestic stocks of sugar and to check rise in sugar prices which, among other things, include permitting duty-free import of raw and white/refined sugar up to December 31, 2010, imposition of stockholding and turnover limits on sugar dealers, stockholding limit on bulk consumers of sugar and suspension of futures trading in sugar upto June 2010. These measures have helped to contain sugar prices in the country, the statement said.