Retail sugar prices declined below ₹60 a kg in Kolkata and Mumbai, while wholesale rates dropped by ₹100-400 a quintal on Friday.Mill-gate prices dropped to below ₹4,750 a quintal, but industry sources said the rates have probably bottomed out.Data from the Price Monitoring Division of the Department of Consumer Affairs showed that the average all-India retail prices dropped to ₹64.10 a kg from ₹64.33 on Thursday.Short delivery windowAmong major cities, prices in Mumbai were ₹58 a kg and in Kolkata, ₹59 a kg. In other cities such as Delhi and Chennai, the rates dropped by ₹2 a kg, though they ruled at ₹60 and ₹62 a kg, respectively.Industry sources said Latur-based Manjra Sugar Industries’ Kancheswar unit in Maharashtra sold 430 tonnes of S-30 grade sugar ranging from ₹4,788 to ₹4,801 a quintal. Jamkhandi Sugars offered the commodity at ₹5,000 a quintal. Other offers were between ₹4,725 and ₹5,480 a quintal. The sources said mills were asking buyers to lift stocks before August 31, leading to low demand. Sept quota rumoursTrade sources said rumours doing rounds pegged the sugar sale allocation for September at 21-22.5 lakh tonnes. “Since it is a festival month, if the allocation is only so much, it may not be enough,” said a trade source.Two major festivals - Krishna Janmashtami and Ganesh Chathurthi - fall in the first fortnight of September. Sugar prices have declined by over 20 per cent in the past week, mainly on the government’s move to allow duty-free import of 1 million tonnes of raw sugar on August 20. Global rates gainThe government has taken various other measures, too, to check the price surge. They include carrying out inspections on traders’ premises in different States to check hoarding, monitoring physical stocks with mills and cutting the stock limit for bulk buyers (who purchase over 10 tonnes a month) to 15 days of their requirements.Global sugar prices, however, edged higher. October raw sugar futures on InterContinental Exchange, New York, edged towards 18 cents a pound at 17.97 cents a pound, while spot prices increased to 18.22 cents. In London, white sugar rose to $522.10 a tonne.Published on August 28, 2026