India, Aug. 22 -- Consumers may be compelled to renegotiate their household budgets ahead of the festive season, beginning with Ganeshotsav next month, as the retail price of sugar has gone up by 40% -- from Rs.50 to Rs.70 - over the last 10 days.

A press statement issued by the Centre on Friday stated that the recent surge cannot be attributed to diversion of sugar for ethanol, pointing instead to lower-than-expected domestic production, higher festive-season demand, weather-related crop damage and price rise in the global sugar market. It also stated that the government has decided to import 10 lakh metric tonnes of raw sugar to control prices.

It added that sugar production fell in the ongoing year as crops were hit by red rot and to...