Govt may impose sugar export ban
NEW DELHI : India may shift sugar exports to the ‘prohibited’ category from ‘restricted’ for the entire 2023-24 (October-September) season, concerned about the impact of the weakest monsoon in five years on sugarcane crops in the major producing states of Maharashtra and Karnataka, two government officials said. Sugar mills can currently apply for an export quota under the restricted category, but moving to the prohibited category would mean a complete export ban. “Sugar output is expected to fall to 30 million tonnes (mt) in the 2023-24 sugar season against domestic consumption of 27.5-28 mt due to El Nino compromising monsoon rain in August," one of the officials said.
“However, El Niño is anticipated to strengthen through 2023-24, which could lead to intensification of dry conditions during the next sugar season. This may lead to a further decline in sugar production during the 2024-25 season," the official added. The El Nino weather pattern made August the driest in more than a century.
Rainfall during the month was 161.7 mm, the lowest since 1901. India, which surpassed Brazil in the 2021-22 season to become the world’s largest sugar producer and second-largest exporter, imposed export controls in October last year, adopting a mill-wise quota system. By the end of the 2022-23 crop year, local sugar mills exported 6.2 mt of sugar.
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