The sugar industry has appealed to the Union government to increase the minimum selling price of sugar to ?36/kg as it anticipates the total surplus in sugar production to go up to 19 million tonnes (mt) by next year. Currently, the wholesale price of sugar hovers around ?32 a kg. We want the government to increase it to ?36. This is what the industry requires from the government to make it competitive. It can even remove all the other sops it has extended so far, said a representative of the Indian Sugar Mills Association on the sidelines of an international sugar conference in Gurugram, on the outskirts of Delhi. Similarly, the government should make it compulsory for all sugar mills in the country to export a total of 7 mt by next year, at whatever price is available globally. Mills which fail to do so could be punished accordingly. India’s sugar production next year is estimated to be 35.5 mt, almost 9.5 mt more than what is normally consumed domestically in a year. On top of that, we have a surplus of 7 mt this sugar season and a carry-forward stock of 4 mt. This surplus is equivalent to what is consumed over nine months in the country.