New Delhi, June 25 (Inditop.com) Sugar mills will have to pay more to cane growers after the government Thursday increased the statutory minimum price for sugarcane by over 32 percent to Rs.107.76 per quintal for the 2009-10 season.

It was Rs.81.18 per quintal in the previous October-September season.

Above this guaranteed price, farmers will also get a premium for additional recovery above 9.5 percent.

“Farmers will get a premium of Rs.1.13 for every 0.1 percentage additional recovery over 9.5 percent,” Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

Last year, the premium was fixed at Rs.0.90 for every 0.1 percentage increase in the recovery above 9 percent.

For the current season ending September, national sugar production has been pegged at 15 million tonnes.