The government is considering the export of 15,000 tonnes of specialty sugar annually, exempting it from any potential export restrictions. Currently, sugar exports are regulated under a permit system issued by the Food Ministry, and there is no separate distinction made for specialty sugar, which are essentially valued-added products, reported The Hindu BusinessLine.
The media report citing sources stated that an inter-ministerial panel discussed the proposal, put forward by the Commerce Ministry, in the last week of January. However, the matter was deferred due to insufficient information. The matter will be revisited once the Commerce Ministry has compiled the necessary data.
Specialty sugars include varieties like icing sugar, demerara-style sugar, golden syrup and others.
Recently, in a move likely to ease the financial pressure on sugar millers, the government approved the export of 10 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of sugar. Export quota of 10 LMT have been prorated amongst those sugar mills which operated in at least one sugar season amongst the last three sugar seasons by taking into account their average production of sugar during the last three operational sugar seasons i.e. 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24. All the sugar mills have been allocated a uniform export quota of 3.174% of their 3 years average production of sugar.
