In an attempt to curb the trend of rising sugar prices, the Centre has decided to allow states to impose and enforce stock holding limits on dealers of sugar. The move has been brought about after it was noticed that in spite of sufficient availability of sugar stocks with the sugar mills, the wholesale and retail prices showed a spurt.

This, however, may also benefit farmers of the several drought-hit regions in Maharashtra and other states since sugarcane cultivation consumes a lot of water, allegedly leading to uncontrolled lifting of ground water. Sugarcane, which is a water-guzzling crop, consumes over 70 percent of irrigated water even though it occupies just about 4 percent of farmed land in Maharashtra. As per reports, the Maharashtra government, too, is considering of enforcing a five-year ban on sanctioning new sugar mills in the state.

Meanwhile, the decision of the Centre aims to check the inflationary tendencies in sugar and reduce hoarding by wholesalers and retailers by bringing sugar within the purview of stock limits. This would help the state and central agencies to impose stock limits and regulate supply, distribution, storage and trade of sugar.