MUMBAI: Ahead of the festival of Raksha Bandhan, when demand for sugar tends to surge in Indian kitchens, consumers are in a bind. Major online grocery platforms and offline retail chains are limiting the number of sugar packs customers can buy, to manage supplies of the household staple amid a decline in stock.“Retailers like DMart and Reliance have capped the quantity of sugar a consumer can purchase at around two or three kgs per person. The same is being done by e-commerce companies,” said an executive with a top sugar brand on condition of anonymity. Though supplies are restricted, there is no stock-out situation as of now, the person added. DMart and Reliance Retail declined to comment.
Prices are expected to continue rising in Aug-Sept and despite the approval of imports.
The closing stock for sugar season 2026 (runs from Oct to Sept) is estimated at 3.9 MMT, about 25% lower than the previous year and 40% below the five-year average of 6.5 MMT, analysts at Crisil Intelligence said in a note, prompting govt to allow import of 10 lakh tonnes of raw sugar, the first such move in a decade.Meagre stock has also pushed up sugar prices—earlier this week, the average all-India retail price stood at Rs 63 per kg, 29% higher than Rs 48.7 per kilo a month back. This spells trouble for both consumers and companies. While people will have to pay more for sugar, demand for which hits a peak during the festive season, firms already grappling with the war-triggered commodity inflation will have to deal with more cost pressures.Prices are expected to continue rising in Aug-Sept and despite the approval of imports, the average price increase is estimated to be around 7% from 9% earlier, Crisil said. “The industry has to be responsible amid shortage and try to prevent hoarding,” said an executive with a quick commerce platform on condition of anonymity. A check on apps Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto on Wednesday showed that companies are restricting sale of sugar packs across brands to a maximum of 2-3 units per person.In the case of the bigger 5 kg pack of Whole Farm Grocery sugar, Blinkit allowed only one pack to be added in the evening while 1 kg and 5 kg packs of Madhur Sugar were out of stock. Swiggy Instamart capped the purchase of sugar packs at two with several packs from Madhur and Parry’s marked as out of stock. The same was the case with Zepto. On Amazon Fresh, a search for white sugar showed no results while on the D-Mart Ready app, most of the sugar brands were listed as out of stock. Mails sent to Blinkit, Swiggy and Amazon did not elicit any response.In a bid to prevent hoarding and support market availability, govt has imposed stock limits.
