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Sugar mills warn of stopping cane crushing
New Delhi: Sugar mill owners said on Tuesday they will be unable to start operations from the 2015-16 crushing season starting October unless the government accepts their proposal to link cane prices to that of sugar.
Warning of sugarcane remaining unharvested, the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), in notices published in major national dailies, said in a “message to all sugarcane farmers” that “sugar prices have to improve, otherwise we will not be able to pay FRP (Fair and Remunerative Price)” fixed by the government.
The association said that due to the unprecedented crisis in the industry hit by “highest sugar stocks and lowest sugar prices in last six years”, millers are unable to clear cane arrears of over Rs.21,000 crore, while cane price arrears for the current year will be left uncleared.
ISMA has been asking for adoption, for instance by Uttar Pradesh, of a linkage formula similar to that in Maharashtra or as recommended by the Rangarajan Committee to ensure automatic determination of cane price in relation to revenue realised from sugar and primary by-products of sugarcane.
The close to 100 private sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh have been at loggerheads with the state government, which makes sugar companies pay a premium to farmers over and above the cane price fixed by the Centre.
While the central government fixes an FRP for sugarcane, state governments are free to determine the price they want sugar mills to pay to the farmers for cane.
“Despite several representations, verbally as well as in writing, the state did not adopt the ‘linkage formula’ or even at least rationalise the cane pricing policy,” C.B. Patodia, president, UP Sugar Mills Association, told.
The mounting losses are affecting the very viability of the industry that contributes Rs.18,000 crore annually to the state exchequer.
Prices have fallen below the cost of production in some states with surplus production for the fourth consecutive year.
The central government in April raised the tax on import of sugar to 40 percent from 25 percent to check falling prices of the commodity and to enable loss-making mills to clear cane payment arrears.
It also withdrew the Duty Free Import Authorisation scheme for exporters.
Last August, the government raised the import duty on sugar to 25 percent from 15 percent as a relief measure to millers beleaguered by higher cane prices and surplus stocks.
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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