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| Photo Credit: M. Govarthan
As about 18 States and Union Territories witnessed an increase of ₹10 to ₹18 for a kilogram of sugar within one year, the Union government said on Friday (August 21, 2026) it was closely monitoring the situation and had taken steps to stable the prices. On Friday (August 21), Odisha registered the highest price for sugar — ₹ 64.72 for a kilogram, which was ₹17.80 higher than the same date of 2025, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. Other than Odisha, consumers from Assam, Delhi, Goa, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Punjab, Tripura and West Bengal also paid more than ₹60 for a kilogram of sugar on Friday (August 21). The national average price was ₹58.23. Compared to the same date of last month, Madhya Pradesh witnessed an increase of ₹15.70 per kilogram, followed by Punjab, where the increase was ₹14.67 per kilogram of sugar. Compared to Friday (August 21) of last week, Madhya Pradesh saw the sharpest increase of ₹11.82, followed by Odisha, where the hike is ₹10.67.
The Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution said in a statement that sugar prices had increased in recent weeks, from ₹48.18 per kilogram on July 20, to ₹55.70 per kg on August 20. “The government is closely monitoring the situation and has taken a series of measures to ensure adequate availability of sugar and stable prices for consumers,” the statement said, and maintained that rise in sugar prices could not be attributed to ethanol. “It is incorrect to attribute the recent increase in sugar prices to diversion of sugar for ethanol production. In fact, the share of sugar diverted for ethanol has declined from around 12% in 2022-23 to around 9% in 2025-26. Moreover, nearly three-fourths of the ethanol produced in the country now comes from grains, particularly maize,” the statement added.
Experts are of the view that if there is more supply of sugar in the market, the prices will come down. Principal Scientist at the Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, an Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institution based in Lucknow, Lal Singh Gangwar told The Hindu that an increase of 10% in the retail prices of sugar around the festive season used to be normal. He adds that the input cost for farmers and sugar mills have also gone up in the season because of the increase in diesel and fertilizer prices due to the war in West Asia. He also ruled out any link of ethanol production and sugar prices. “Last year, the government has put a cap that no sugar industry can use sugarcane juice for the production of ethanol,” he said.
Combination of factors
The government added that the present increase in sugar prices was due to a combination of factors, including lower-than-expected domestic production, increased demand ahead of the festive season, weather-related damage to the sugarcane crop, tightening global sugar supplies and speculation and hoarding by some sections of the industry. “Sugar production during the current season is expected to be around 306 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT), compared to the initial estimate of around 343 LMT by sugarcane-growing States,” the release added.
It said sugar prices were rising globally too, maintaining that diversion of excess sugar towards ethanol had improved the financial health of sugar mills. It said a stock limit of 400 tonnes had been imposed on sugar dealers across the country from August 1 to November 30. “From September 1, bulk consumers will not be permitted to hold sugar stocks exceeding 15 days of consumption,” the release said, adding that the government had also decided to permit duty-free import of 10 LMT of raw sugar to further augment domestic availability.
Published – August 21, 2026 10:03 pm IST
