New Delhi: Samajwadi Party`s convincing win in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday cheered over 100 sugar mills in the state, the country`s second largest producer of sweetener.

Pointing out that no new investment came in the sugar industry in last five years in UP, the industry`s apex body, ISMA, said it has high hopes on Mulayam Singh, who is set become the next Chief Minister of the state. "We expect that new government will formulate policies to encourage investment in the sugar sector which was almost missing in last five years. No new sugar plant was established in last five years," Director General of Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) Abinash Verma said.

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He noted that the incentives announced by the then SP Government in 2004 were discontinued during last five years and hoped that the same would be revived by the incoming government.

Verma said that the cane price arrears have mounted to about Rs 4,000 crore as millers are incurring losses since past couple of years.
"We expect that the new government would provide some financial incentives to help sugar mills in clearing the cane price arrear," he added.

The cane arrears to UP farmers are due to high State Advisory Price (SAP) announced by the Mayawati government for the 2011-12 marketing year at Rs 240 per quintal, the industry felt.
However, stocks of UP-based sugar mills could not sustain their initial gains amid an overall stock market downtrend.
PTI