Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar says, the government will consider lifting the ban on sugar futures trading in the first week of September, after assessing the production situation. Trading in sugar futures was banned in May 2009, and the suspension is valid till September 2010. Retail sugar prices, at present, are ruling sharply lower by 40 per cent, at 30 rupees a kilo, compared to 48 rupees a kilo in mid-January in Delhi.