The central government fixes a sale quota for sugar mills every month to check excess supply and the resultant fall in prices, which had earlier led to delays in payment of cane dues to farmers. "Many sugar mills are selling sugar much above their monthly quota for various reasons,” a trader from Maharashtra said on the condition of anonymity. “Some have been servicing loans at exorbitant interest rates, while some mills do not want to carry forward huge stocks after the crushing season is over."