Jul 21 2009 12:24PM
MUMBAI, July 21 (Reuters) - India's western Maharashtra state has seized 33,500 tonnes of sugar after raids on warehouses of traders suspected to be hoarding the sweetener, two state government officials said.
The government is also checking stocks of traders of pulses and oilseeds for hoarding, the officials in the state's food and civil supplies department, who declined to be named, said.
"Raids are going on. So far we have seized 335,000 quintals of sugar. Most are from Kolhapur and Sangli district," one of the officials said.
The department has also seized oilseeds and pulses in small amounts.
India had released 1.49 million tonnes of non-levy sugar for July. Non-levy, or free sale sugar, is sold by millers in the open market, but the quantity each mill can sell is fixed by the federal government on a monthly basis.
Maharashtra state has fixed a limit of 200 tonnes for sugar stocks held by traders.
Raids will prevent traders from stockpiling and those hoarding excess amounts may dismantle their stocks, Ashok Jain, president of the Bombay Sugar Merchants Association, said.
The ongoing raids are seen as an attempt to curb hoarding and check prices in the festival season that beings in August.
The federal government has given powers to state governments under the Essential Commodities Act to prevent hoarding of key commodities and control their price rise.
"We have sealed warehouses of those who were sitting on stocks above their limits or those who don't have licences to stock," said one of the state government officials.
Sugar prices have risen on lower Indian output that traders forecast may have fallen by 45 percent to 14.7 million tonnes in the crop year to September. Prices in the key Kolhapur market are up 28 percent to 2,356.15 rupees per 100 kg in 2009.
Maharashtra is the biggest producer of the sweetener, kharif pulses and second biggest producer of soybean in the country.
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