Almost About 25 lakh tonnes of sugar have been contracted for exports so far during the 2020-2021 sugar season, according to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA).
In a statement, the association, quoting market reports, said about seven lakh tonnes had been physically exported between October 1, 2020 and January 31, 2021. This included exports against the 2019-2020 sugar season’s Maximum Admissible Export Quota (MAEQ), which was extended till the end of December. About four lakh tonnes had been exported under the current year’s export policy.
Based on trade information, it is estimated that almost 25 lakh tonnes had been contracted for exports so far.
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“This is a very encouraging trend, considering that only 45 days have passed since the export quota were announced on December 31, 2020 for the current season,” said ISMA.
“A substantial part of the contracted exports are for Indonesia. Once the clarification sought from Ministry of Commerce for exports to Iran is received, India will see many more export contracts happening very quickly. Ministry of Commerce will be issuing clarification very soon on exports to Iran.”
Sugar mills are facing difficulties in lifting of ethanol by oil marketing companies though they had allocated about 325 crore litres of ethanol supplies in 2020-2021. However, the related issues are expected to be sorted out shortly, said ISMA.
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As on February 15, 2021, 208.89 lakh tonnes of sugar had been produced by sugar mills in the country compared with 170.01 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period of last sugar season. Of the 497 sugar mills that had started crushing in 2020-2021 (October 2020 to September 2021) sugar season, 33 had stopped crushing operations due to non-availability of sugarcane.