Shortfall anticipated in India’s sugar exports

According to the estimates of All India Sugar Traders’ Association, sugar mills have only exported 56% of their minimum indicative export quota (2.8 million tons out of 5 million tons) so far in this season (October 2018-September 2019). Though the government has introduced incentives for the industry to improve their export performance, a lot of sugar mills have failed to achieve their capacity allotment owing to international circumstances.

Government measures include transport subsidy, permission to release a similar quantity for the domestic market & interest subsidy for maintaining buffer stock. Key factors responsible for the shortfall in sugar exports include the subdued prices in the global markets due to surplus sugar production and the demand for raw sugar over white sugar, which is exported by India. Mills have reported an output of 32.12 MT by April 30, 2019, an increase by 0.94 MT over the previous year.