Government of India extends ban on sugar export to 2022-23 season

Tags: Economy/Finance

The Government of India has extended the ban on exports of sugar including raw, refined and white for one more year starting 31 October 2022 till   31st of October 2023. The sugar season in India is from October to September. As per the notification, the restriction is not applicable to Sugar being exported to the European Union and the USA, This has been done by the government to increase the availability of sugar in India and control its prices.

In the 2021-22 sugar season government has allowed the export of 10 million tonnes of sugar 

Sugar in restrictive list 

In a notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade(DGFT),Sugar has been kept in the restricted category and not in Open General License(OGL). It means that sugar can be exported from India with the permission of the government of India . If a commodity is put in the OGL list then it can be freely imported or exported without the need of government permission .

Sugar production  and buffer stock 

The government of India maintains a buffer stock of around 6 million tonnes .The  buffer stock is used by the government to increase the supply of the sugar in the market when its prices shoot up .

According to Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), the total production of sugar in the 2022-23 season is expected to be 41 million tonnes of which 4.5 million tonnes is expected to be diverted for making ethanol. These ethanol are blended with petrol to create biofuels . The consumption of sugars in India is expected to be around 27.5 million tonnes. India is expected to have a surplus of around 9 million tonnes.

Sugar exporters expect the government of India to allow export of the surplus sugar from India as prices of sugar are very high in the international market.

Sugar Export from India 

• India is the largest producer  and consumer of sugar in the world  and second largest exporter of sugar in the world after Brazil.
• In the current 2021-22 season the government has allowed the export of 10 million tonnes of sugar .
• Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka account for nearly 80 percent of the total sugar production in the country.