The sugar council, headed by the food secretary T Nand Kumar, on Tuesday made a strong pitch for more white sugar export. It said the issue of rapidly rising sugar production in the country could be addressed if more raw and white sugar were exported to the global market. The council at its meeting held on Tuesday indicated that India would be in a position to export both white and raw sugar to the tune of 35 lakh tonne during 2007-08. The new global markets are available following the withdrawal of EU subsidy.
Sources present at the meeting told FE, ?The council took stock of the present situation and the production during 2007-08. The sugar production, which is almost 280 lakh tonne this year, is expected to be almost same or may increase to 300 lakh tonne after the crushing season of 2007-08. The council members, representing sugar mills across the country, expressed concern over a large quantity of sugar lying downs due to dip in prices and exports.?
Council members arrived at a consensus that ?the problem of plenty? can be tackled through large-scale exports. They, however, were of the view that realisation price needed to be improved.
According to sources, the members said special efforts should be taken to encourage sugar mills produce certain percentage of raw sugar of the total amount produced by them. India can be a major exporter of raw sugar. Moreover, sugar mills would be allowed to produce alcohol directly from sugarcane juice.
The council also discussed the options available to export refined sugar in new emerging markets.