RANGPUR, Oct 30: Some 8,417 tonnes of sugar worth about Tk 336.68 million are lying unsold for long at Setabganj Sugar Mills under Bochaganj upazila in Dinajpur district, causing financial difficulties to the mills authority.
Arrangement of fund for making full payment to the sugarcane growers who sold them the produced on credit has become almost impossible as the sugar remains unsold, mills sources said.
The sugar has remained stockpiled in the mill for about three years, as the dealers are reluctant to lift it from the mill, consequently a large amount of sugar is getting damaged mill sources also said.
New crushing season of sugarcane will begin on December 12 this year. Around 60,000 tonnes of sugarcane will be crushed to produce 4,200 tonnes of sugar during 2014-15 season, sources said.
Accommodation and financial problem for the unsold sugar are two big challenges for them, and the situation will further aggravate with the start of new crushing season, said Md Shahidullah, managing director of Setabganj Sugar Mill.
According to official sources, the amount of unsold sugar of 2011-12 crushing season is 2,511 tonnes, while it is recorded at 4,086 tonnes of 2012-13 season and 1,820 tonnes of 2013-14.
There are four dealers of Setabganj Sugar Mill for marketing; but in the last two years they stopped taking out their allotted sugar from the mill, an official added.
Shahidur Rahman Patwary, a dealer of Setabganj Sugar Mill, said people avoid locally produced sugar as its price is higher than imported sugar and its colour is reddish. He said the market has been captured by imported sugar, as the quality of imported sugar is much better than the local one and price is lower.
A number of sugarcane growers under Shetabganj upazila, said, they went to sugar mills to get their dues as they need the amount for cultivating jute but the officials of the mill could not give any assurance of paying the money.
Meanwhile, Setabganj Sugar Mill set up in Bochaganj upazila of Dinajpur in 1933 has a total loss burden of around Tk 2 billion, sources said.
Md Shahidullah, Managing Director of the mill said, several of their attempts to sell the sugar to the dealers went in vain as the price of sugar in the local market is lower. They are trying their best to sell the sugar and pay the dues to the sugarcane suppliers as early as possible, he added.
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