In a two-pronged approach to rein in the price of sugar, which has seen a sharp increase of late, the Centre on Thursday imposed a sugar stockholding limit for bulk consumers and allowed the duty-free import of 10 lakh metric tonne of raw sugar till the end of October.

The move assumes significance given how the festive season is round the corner.

The stockholding limit applies to confectioners, soft drink manufacturers, food processing industry, sweetmeat sellers and any other institutional buyer consuming not less than ten metric tonne of sugar as average monthly consumption during the past one year, excluding the current month.

“No bulk consumer using or consuming more than ten metric tonne of sugar per month as raw material for production, consumption, or use, in any manner shall keep in stock sugar for any period exceeding 15 days for such consumption or use, as the case may be…,” read an order issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

However, government institutions are kept out of the purview of the order.

“The monthly quantity of sugar sold by each sugar mill to the bulk consumer, whether directly or through dealers, shall be verified and consumption of sugar shall be determined, with reference to the Goods and Services Tax returns filed by the sellers and/or buyers using the relevant Harmonised System of Nomenclature (HSN) Code applicable to sugar,” the order further read.

In a separate order, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) amended the import policy for raw sugar, allowing 10 lakh metric tonne of duty-free imports under Tariff Rate Quota till October 31, 2026.

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“Further, a one-time option is provided for conversion of Advance Authorisations already issued under SION E-52 to the TRQ Scheme, in respect of the quantity of Raw Sugar actually imported thereunder up to the date of this Notification subject to specified conditions,” read the MoCI order.

The government’s swift action came at a time when sugar prices have spiked by around 15 per cent in a month. According to price data available on the portal of Department of Consumer Affairs, sugar retail prices touched Rs 5,152.44 per quintal on Thursday (August 20) — a 15.12 per cent rise compared to Rs 4,475.84 per quintal a month ago, and 19.68 per cent to Rs 4,305.05 per quintal a year ago.