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The Centre halved the stock limit for sugar dealers on Tuesday, from 4,000 quintals to 2,000 from September 15 to November 30. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution said the move was meant to stop hoarding and speculative trading.

Kolkata is exempt. It keeps the old 4,000-quintal limit. The ministry said the Kolkata area "is sourcing sugar from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and supplying to the eastern part of the country, including the North-Eastern region".

This is the second cut in six weeks. The first order, on July 28, set the limit at 4,000 quintals from August 1 and capped holdings at 30 days. Sugar prices rose 29.6 per cent in the four weeks that followed, the steepest move in the series.

From September 2025 to June 2026, the average moved between about Rs 46 and Rs 47.5, a band of 72 paisa across 10 months. Prices drifted up in July to Rs 49.36 by August 1. The break came on Aug 18, at about Rs 54. Eleven days later, it was around Rs 64.

Every state rose. All 33 that report sugar prices were up between August 1 and 29; and 26 of them by 20 per cent or more. Gujarat rose 44 per cent and Telangana about 40 per cent. Jaggery, made from the same cane, rose 12.8 per cent.

The corridor Kolkata supplies holds the dearest sugar in India. Sikkim was at Rs 70 a kilo on August 29 and Tripura at Rs 69.3, against Rs 64.7 nationally. Six of the 10 dearest states are eastern or northeastern. But the region is not uniformly dear. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram were all below the national average.

The monsoon is running short. By September 1, about 48 per cent of districts had less rain than the India Meteorological Department's normal band allows. The IMD expects September to bring less than 91 per cent of the long-period average, its director general, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, said.

The rest of the kitchen basket did not move. Of the 41 commodities tracked, 37 moved less than 2.5 per cent over the same weeks. Wheat rose 0.9 per cent and rice two per cent. Only onion, up 36.4 per cent, moved more than sugar.

The rise had already slowed before Tuesday's order. Raw prices peaked at Rs 65.08 on August 26 and stood at Rs 62.96 on September 1. Prices have levelled off at Rs 63 to Rs 64, not at the Rs 47 they held all year.

If the new limit works, dealers will release stock and the price should give back some of August's Rs 15. If it does not, the Centre enters the festival season with sugar 38 per cent above last year and a cane crop the IMD expects to finish short of rain.

The data cannot say where in the chain the rise happened. The Price Monitoring System publishes shop prices only. For 10 months, the sugar line was the dullest in the basket. It took 11 days in August to undo that.- EndsPublished By: Pathikrit SanyalPublished On: Sep 1, 2026 22:02 IST