The Indian government on Friday asked sugar mills to ensure that buyers lift stocks within seven days after sales/ It said a new Order, issued by the Food Ministry, with immediate effect will be valid until November 30.The Ministry, on August 13, also issued the Order to sugar mills asking them to furnish bulk sales data during the 2025-26 fiscal.“It has been observed that certain sugar mills are holding stocks of sugar in excess of the quantities reported in P2 form or selling less sugar than the allocated monthly quota. The said discrepancy has also been confirmed during recently conducted drive for physical verification of sugar stocks by the Department,” according to the letter issued by the Director (Sugar Division) to all the mills.Govt’s warningThe government has reminded mills that under Section 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 read with Sugar (Control) Order, 2025, it is empowered to take legal action against any sugar mill for furnishing any misleading or incorrect information regarding sugar stocks.Further, the letter said that the Department has found that certain mills are selling sugar at the beginning of the month, but the dispatch/lifting is being done by the buyers at the end of the month. “This practice results in creation of artificial scarcity of sugar in the market,” it said.“In view of the prevailing scenario regarding involvement of certain sugar mills in speculative activities, it has been decided that no sugar mill shall retain sugar stock in its premises for more than seven days after sale to any dealer, agent or bulk consumer, except in circumstances beyond its control” the letter said adding these instructions shall remain in force upto November 30, 2026.Prices up 8%Any violation of the above instructions shall be viewed seriously and appropriate legal action shall be initiated by the government authorities, immediately upon detection of such lapses, it said.The Intensive Check/Physical verification drive of sugar stocks, which started from August 1 and was scheduled to end August 14, will continue by the Central and State Government teams, it said.The Ministry has also informed mills that they will be allowed the sell the sugar produced in October 2026 in the same month as well as in November 2026 in view of the prevailing sugar market situation.The All-India average prices of sugar have increased 8 per cent in retail market and 7 per cent in wholesale market in the past month, according to Consumer Affairs Ministry data. However, actual increase is even higher in the national capital region of Delhi and other places – ₹55-56/kg now from about ₹46-48/kg a month ago. Official data show the average sugar price in Delhi was ₹49/kg on August 12.Another fiatSensing that there may be lower sugar available with mills, the government on July 24 announced to conduct physical verification of stock in every mill and complete the exercise by August 14. Besides, stock limit was also imposed on July 28 prescribing maximum 400 tonnes of sugar that traders can keep at any point of time till November 30.In a separate Order on August 13, the Food Ministry has also asked all the sugar mills furnish by August 20 the bulk consumer-wise details to whom 500 tonnes or more sugar has been sold annually directly or through agents during FY 2025-26. Mills need to duly specify names of bulk consumers, total quantity supplied to each bulk consumer during 2025-26 fiscal, GSTIN of both the bulk consumer and the sugar mill, and the HSN Code under which sale of quantity sold to bulk consumers have been reported.Officials said that accurate and comprehensive information regarding the quantity of sugar supplied to bulk consumers is essential for effective monitoring of sugar stocks, domestic availability and consumption patterns. Under the Sugar (Control) Order, 2025, “Bulk Consumer” is defined as halwai, sweetmeat seller, confectioner, soft drink manufacturer, food processing industry or any other institutional buyer consuming not less than 100 tonnes of sugar as average monthly consumption during last one year excluding current month.Building bulk consumers dataSources said that the government wants to build a data base of bulk consumers, who are perceived to buy 65 per cent of total consumption, for which the information has been sought. But, industry sources said that it is difficult to find out who is a bulk consumer as some broker or trader could have lifted 500 tonnes per year for onwards sales. “Will the government ask all the sugar traders to get registered and file monthly return like sugar mills do,” asked an industry official and added that it is not physically possible to get exact information without introducing inspector raj.“The government should focus on increasing availability if it is really concerned on prices, forgetting what has happened in the past few months. If needed, let there be import at zero duty or divert the imported raw sugar under ALS (advance license scheme) temporarily to domestic market after refining,” he said.Published on August 14, 2026