The Central government will likely cut the sugar export quota by 29% for the new marketing year that started on October 1 to keep domestic supplies steady It could cap sugar exports at just eight million tonnes in 2022-23, compared with estimated despatches of 11.2 million tonnes in the recently concluded marketing year.
To manage local prices, the government imposed an export cap of 10 million tonnes for 2021-22 in May. It later permitted the export of an additional 1.2 million tonnes. In recent months, the government has used export restrictions to keep critical commodities like rice, wheat, and sugar prices under control.
According to the source, leading sugar sector executives pitched to the director general of foreign trade Santosh Kumar Sarangi last week to enable exports of eight million tonnes under the open general license in 2022-23. According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association, net sugar production after the diversion of cane juice for ethanol production would be roughly 35.5 million tonnes. It forecasts consumption at approximately 27.5 million tonnes.
In 2017-18, India shipped 0.62 million tonnes of sugar, 3.8 million tonnes in 2018-19, and 5.96 million tonnes in 2019-20. In 2020-21, over seven million tonnes of sugar were exported, exceeding the objective of six million tonnes.
