Govt allows export of 2 MT sugar till Sept 2018 to clear surplus

The Dollar Business Bureau

In a bid to further ease the sugar exports and to clear surplus stocks, the Government on Wednesday allowed export of 2 million tonnes of the sweetener till the end of the current marketing year (October to September).

Earlier, the Government has scrapped the 20% export duty and doubled the duty on sugar imports to 100%.

Besides, the Government has permitted the exports of white sugar until September this year under the scheme of Duty Free Import Authorisation (DFIA), in which exporters can import sugar duty-free within the next three years, till September 2021.

Sugar mills in the country have to pay Rs.13,899 crore to sugarcane farmers as on March 21, 2018, as per the official data.

Sugar mill are allowed to export two million tonnes of sugar under the Minimum Indicative Export Quota (MIEQ) scheme for the marketing year 2017-18, said Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in its latest order.

“In view of inventory level with the sugar industry and to facilitate achievement of financial liquidity, mill-wise MIEQ has been fixed for the 2018-19 marketing year,” it said.

According to the order, it is mandatory for the mills to export a fixed quota, under the MIEQ scheme, failing to which they shall be considered to be violating the Government’s directives.

The quota for export has been fixed after taking into consideration the average production achieved by the mills in the past two years and till February of the current marketing year.

The export quota can be shipped by the mills or they can get it exported through other mills on mutually agreed basis.

“The export quota would be over and above the obligations under the Advance Authorisation Scheme (AAS),” said the order.

The Government has allowed export of white sugar under the DFIA scheme till September this year, according to a notification (No.57/2015-2020) issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on Wednesday.

According to Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), the production of sugar in India for 2017-18 is estimated at 29.5 million tonnes from its previous estimates of 26.1 million tonnes. However, the domestic demand of the sweetener is likely to be 25 million tonnes.