NEW DELHI - India's top sugar producing state, Uttar Pradesh, has kept unchanged the price that mills must pay to cane growers in the new current season that began in October, according to a government order seen by Reuters on Saturday.

For the 2019/20 season, Uttar Pradesh fixed the cane price at 315 rupees ($4.42) per 100 kgs, said the order dated Dec. 7.

In India, the world's biggest sugar consumer, the federal government announces the price that cane growers receive each year, but Uttar Pradesh's state government typically fixes its own rate.

The state government said in the order it decided to keep the cane price unchanged to help cut back on the country's surplus sugar output.

(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) ((rajendra.jadhav@thomsonreuters.com; +91-22-68414378 ; Reuters Messaging: rajendra.jadhav.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))