Maharashtra bans sugarcane sales to other states

MUMBAI, Aug 26 (Reuters) - India's western state of Maharashtra, the country's largest sugar producer, has banned sugarcane sales to other states in the year ending September 2009, a senior trade official said on Tuesday.

The mills in the state will pay statutory minimum price in first instalment, Prakash Naiknavare, managing director, Maharashtra State Co-Operative Sugar Factories Federation Ltd (MSCSFF), said.

Considering the lower availability of cane, the state government has decided not to allow farmers to sell cane to mills in other states, Naiknavare said after a meeting with a state ministers' committee meeting held earlier in the day.

(Reporting by Abhishek Shanker; Editing by Prem Udayabhanu)