Aug 12 2009 10:06AM
NEW DELHI, Aug 12 (Reuters) - India's farm minister, Sharad Pawar, has sought an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Aug. 17 to discuss rising sugar prices and falling output, the Financial Express newspaper said on Wednesday.
Pawar would brief the Prime Minister on rapidly increasing sugar prices, lower imports of raws because of a surge in global markets, measures to curb speculation and hoarding, the paper said, citing unnamed sources.
India's sugar sector, a heavily regulated industry, is politically sensitive. Any spike in price stokes anger among consumers and leads to severe criticism of the government.
The country's sugar stocks dropped to 6 million tonnes on July 31, down 21 percent since the start of the month, enough to meet local demand for only three months.
No comments:
Post a Comment