``In the absence of any effective checks, traders who work for quick bucks are likely to cash in on the increase in demand during the festive season by resorting to large- scale imports,'' Indian Sugar Mills' Association (ISMA) director- general SL Jain told PTI.

Jain said China had become the largest supplier of sugar to India in the recent past and added that Beijing had found a saviour in Indian markets for its sugar producers.

A total of 7.33 lakh tonnes of sugar has been registered by private traders with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) during the current financial year, taking the total registration for imports since September 1997 to nearly 30 lakh tonnes.

The imports of 7.33 lakh tonnes have been contracted for 148.9 milliondollars, official sources said.

``Until the government implements the recent amendment effected to the Sugar Control Order (SCO), imports will continue unabated and could witness sharp increase during the next couple of months,'' National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd (NFCSF) secretary VM Bhatnagar said.

Bhatnagar said increasing imports had also a dampening effects on the domestic prices and added that the poor price realisation had compounded the woes of the domestic industry.

``The government should either increase the customs duty or bring into effect the changes in SCO to protect the producers from uneven competition,'' he said.

The government had recently amended SCO, 1954 to enable it to bring the imported sugar under levy obligation and storage restrictions but is yet to implement the changes.

India currently imposes 27.5 per cent import duty on sugar in addition to Rs 850 per tonne countervailing duty.

Sugar production during the first nine months of 1998-99 sugar year(November-October) is estimated at 152.11 lakh tonnes as against 126.62 lakh tonnes during the same period last year.

Total offtake of the commodity till June stood at 112.14 lakh tonnes (including seven lakh tonnes of imported sugar) for domestic consumption and 10,000 tonnes for exports.

`` With the country having a very comfortable sugar stock at the moment, importers should be discouraged and apprehensions of spurt in prices should have no place in the mind of authorities,'' Jain said.

The closing stock of sugar as on June 30, 1999 was up at 101.06 lakh tonnes, including over 50 lakh tonnes of carry-over stock as compared to 86.67 lakh tonnes during the corresponding period last year.

Jain said increasing imports from China was the result of `virtual closure' of two important markets, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, to Beijing.

``While Indonesia has stopped imports completely following better domestic production, Saudi Arabia too has drastically reduced its dependence on Chinese sugar forcing themto look at the lucrative Indian market,'' he said.

The ISMA official said government should not delay in taking appropriate steps to protect the interest of the domestic industry in view of the elections but should seek Election Commission's permission to announce protective measures.

Official sources, however, said any corrective measures were unlikely to be taken by the government until the completion of the entire election process and the end of the festive season.

The domestic industry has estimated the sugar production in 1999-2000 to go up to a record 160 lakh tonnes in view of the increase in area under cultivation and good crop conditions.