Cane arrears on fair and remunerative price basis have nearly halved to 81.5 bln rupees as of Friday from 145.4 bln rupees during May end due to a slew of measures taken by the government to bail out the cash-strapped sugar industry. Depressed sugar price due to excess sugar production during current sugar season 2017-18 has adversely affected the financial health of sugar mills. The cane arrears on state advised price basis also came down to 166.0 bln rupees as of Thursday from 232.2 bln rupees in May. As a result of various interventions undertaken by the government, the ex-mill prices of sugar rose to 30-33 rupees a kg, thereby improving the liquidity position of sugar mills, from 24.5-26.0 rupees a kg. The excess sugar production during the current sugar season and indication of surplus production in the ensuing season has adversely affected the market sentiment due to which the ex-mill sugar prices in the domestic market have fallen sharply. The Centre has also created the buffer stock of 3.0 mln tn to help the growers and the industry.