D K Shivakumar with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. File photo.
Bengaluru: Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has urged the Centre to raise Karnataka’s sugar floor price and review its October 22 ethanol directive after the February 2027 crop estimate, in fresh letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi.
Karnataka has proposed raising sugar’s minimum selling price from ₹31 to ₹41.50 a kg, saying the floor has been unchanged since February 2019. The letter to Modi said sugar sells for about ₹45 a kg and argued a higher floor could support farmers’ payments without raising consumer prices. It also sought separate minimum prices for domestic and commercial sugar.
On cane pricing, Shivakumar urged the Centre to apply the C2+50% formula recommended by the Swaminathan Commission. The state said farmers are seeking ₹5,500 a tonne against the current fair and remunerative price of ₹3,650 at 10.25% recovery. Karnataka has recommended ₹4,440 a tonne at 9.5% recovery and asked that the base rate return to 9.5%.
He also asked the Centre to reconsider its October 22, 2026 directive restricting ethanol made from cane juice, syrup and B-heavy molasses in the 2026–27 supply year. Karnataka proposed reviewing the directive after the February 2027 crop estimate, beginning with B-heavy molasses, and revising cane-based ethanol procurement prices that have remained unchanged since 2022–23 for juice and B-heavy molasses.
The state said cane-based distilleries earned ₹5,803.7 crore from ethanol in 2025–26, helping mills pay farmers within 14 days. In his letter to Joshi, Shivakumar sought fairer allocations, noting Karnataka received 117 crore litres against cane- and molasses-based capacity of about 225 crore litres.
He also sought ethanol and co-generation earnings to be included in the revenue-sharing formula and proposed a Price Stabilisation Fund. Karnataka will review the roughly 8% deduction on machine-harvested cane in consultation with mills and farmers.
Outlining state measures, Shivakumar said all 81 operating sugar mills use digital weighbridges and their laboratories are checked twice a month. The state said 99.85% of 2025–26 cane dues had been paid as of October 15.
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