Govt likely to notify 1.2 MT of additional sugar exports this season

The Centre is likely to allow an additional 1.2 million tonnes (MT) of sugar exports in the current season ending September 2022, according to government sources

The Centre is likely to allow an additional 1.2 million tonnes (MT) of sugar exports in the current season ending September 2022 taking into account higher-than-anticipated domestic production, according to government sources.

This additional quota would be over and above 10 MT of sugar exports allowed for the current 2021-22 season.

Sources said a group of ministers approved the additional quota of sugar exports in a recent meeting. A notification in this regard will be issued soon.

The nodal Food Ministry is working on modalities to allocate the additional quota. The country's total sugar production is expected to increase by 5,00,000 tonnes to 36 million tonnes in the 2021-22 season, compared to the earlier estimate of 35.5 million tonnes, the sources added.

Even after the export of an additional quota of sugar, the country would be left with around 6-6.8 MT of closing stocks.

Mills have exported 9.97 MT of sugar so far in the ongoing 2021-22 season to countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, UAE, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Somalia and others.

Sources also mentioned that there is global demand for Indian sugar even as the international market has seen some correction recently and raw sugar prices have fallen.

Last month, the Nationalist Congress Party chief and former Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking for relaxation in the cap on overseas shipments by 1 million tonnes as production was expected to be higher than earlier estimates.