A sharp increase in the price of sugar over the past fortnight has impacted West Bengal’s sweet industry, with some manufacturers marginally increasing the prices of sweets while others say they might be forced to do so if the trend continues.
We have been forced to marginally increase the prices of sweets. The festive season is approaching. “Sugar prices have shot up over the last fortnight. This consumption increases by around three times during the festive season. We have not increased the prices of sweets yet even though the prices of LPG and milk have shot up. We have not increased the prices so far, keeping in mind the customers. The festive season is also coming. “We have identified the points where leakages are taking place. We have activated the task forces.
“The increase in the price of sugar from around ₹ 48 per kilo to around ₹ 68 – ₹ 70 per kilo has already had a negative effect. “The price of a Rasagolla has been increased by ₹ 1 – ₹ 2 per piece. Mihidana and Sitabhog which used to sell around ₹ 240 per kilo has been increased to ₹ 270 per kilo. The price of super quality of Sitabhog has been raised from ₹ 350 per kilo to ₹ 400 per kilo,” Singh said. Sweet manufacturers said that sugar accounts for around 30% of the price of a sweet. We use around 600 kilos of sugar and around 3500 litres of milk. “We manufacture around 100 varieties of sweets, and most of them are chhena-based (cottage cheese made from milk).
If this trend continues, there will be a huge impact,” said Pramod Kumar Singh, secretary of the Burdwan Sitabhog Mihidana Traders Welfare Association. But if the sugar prices don’t come down or rises further, we may be forced to increase the prices of sweets ahead of the festive season,” said Dhiman Das, director of KC Das, a prominent sweet manufacturer in Kolkata. If the sweets become too costly, the sale may drop,” said Rahul Chaurasia, co-owner of Ganguram Sweets. We will fix it,” Adhikari said.
But we are planning to increase the prices marginally after the Raksha bandhan on Friday. On Monday, West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari told the media at the state secretariat that steps were being taken to curb the rise in sugar price.
