Sugar industry body ISMA has demanded that the government should allow exports of 80 lakh tonnes of sweetener in the 2022-23 marketing year starting October in view of surplus production.
Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) president Aditya Jhunjhunwala has written a letter to food and consumer affairs minister Piyush Goyal in this regard.
In the current 2021-22 marketing year ending September, the government has allowed sugar exports of 112 lakh tonnes and mills are likely to ship the entire quantities.
In May, the government had imposed restrictions on export of sugar beyond 100 lakh tonnes, but later allowed another 12 lakh tonnes of shipments, taking the total to 112 lakh tonnes for 2021-22.
Sugar marketing year or season runs from October to September.
“We would like to request the government to allow 80 lakh tonnes of exports for 2022-23 SS (Sugar Season) …,” the ISMA President said in the letter.
As per preliminary estimate, Jhunjhunwala said the net sugar production, without considering the diversion of sugar for production of ethanol, is expected to increase to about 400 lakh tonnes in 2022-23 from 394 lakh tonnes in the current marketing year.
However, he said 45 lakh tonnes of sugar are expected to get diverted for ethanol in 2022-23 marketing year as against 34 lakh tonnes in the current marketing year.
This means that actual sugar production in 2022-23 would be 355 lakh tonnes, the ISMA president said.
“Therefore, after considering domestic sugar consumption of 275 lakh tonnes in the next season (2022-23), it becomes imperative to export at least 80 lakh tonnes of surplus sugar out of the country in order to maintain optimum sugar balance in the country,” Jhunjhunwala said.
The exports of surplus sugar would also help in maintaining domestic sugar prices, which in turn boost liquidity position of mills enabling them to pay sugarcane farmers on time.
The ISMA president mentioned that the sugarcane crushing operations in 2022-23 marketing year is expected to start from October first week itself because of huge cane availability.
Jhunjhunwala urged the government to announce the export policy for 2022-23 marketing year at the earliest so that mills can enter into future contracts and also plan their production in advance.
India’s sugar exports stood at 70 lakh tonnes in 2020-21 marketing year, 59 lakh tonnes in 2019-20 and 38 lakh tonnes in 2018-19.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings