Sugar exports at 5.11MT this yr so far

Sugar mills have exported 5.11 million tonnes of the sweetener so far in the ongoing 2020-21 marketing year ending September, with maximum shipments to Indonesia, trade body AISTA said on Thursday.

About 2,02,521 tonnes of sugar is under loading. An additional 6,78,237 tonne of sugar is in transit for delivery to port-based refineries, it said. Mills have contracted to export the entire six million tonne sugar quota assigned by the food ministry in January this year, All India Sugar Trade Association (AISTA) said in a statement.

An additional 8,00,000 tonnes of sugar has been contracted under the OGL (open general license) route without subsidy support. The sugar marketing year runs from October to September. According to AISTA, mills have exported a total of 5.11 million tonnes of sugar from January 1 till August 5, 2021.

Of the total exports undertaken so far, maximum exports have been undertaken to Indonesia at 1.69 million tonnes so far this year, followed by Afghanistan at 6,23,967 tonnes and the UAE at 4,60,816 tonnes and Sri Lanka at 3,78,280 tonnes.

"We are proud to say that the value of the sugar exported /under the process of the shipment is in excess of $2.5 billion or about Rs 18,600 crores, contributing to the country's export earnings, particularly in a pandemic year and increasing the liquidity in the hands of sugar mills to pay cane price to farmers," AISTA noted.

The industry body further said that India has managed to contract around six million tonnes of sugar without export to Iran, which has the potential to buy 1.2 million tonnes.

"With the changed political scenario in the global markets, it shall be prudent to find some mechanism to export sugar to Iran.