The government has given time till December to export the last year's sugar quota

The government on Monday extended the sugar mills' export deadline of last year's sugar quota by three months to December. Sugar mills were able to export only 38 lakh tonnes of sugar during the marketing year 2018-19 (October-September), against the target of 50 lakh tonnes under the Minimum Indicative Export Quota (MIEQ) scheme.

Government allows sugar mills to export

Now, according to a recent notification issued by the Food Ministry, the central government has decided to allow sugar mills which have been able to export partially out of the minimum nominal export quota (MIEQ) for the year 2018-19. They should also export the remaining sugar of their MIEQ by 31 December 2019. This will be more than the quota allotted for the current 2019-20 marketing year.

A senior Food Ministry official said that last year, most of the sugar was exported to West Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. For the current year marketing year, the government has set a quota of 6 million tonnes of sugar exports under the MIEQ. Sugar mills are hopeful that this quota will be met as there is a shortage of 4 million tonnes in the global market. At the beginning of the sugar marketing year 2019-20, the country had the highest stock left of 1.45 million tonnes against the requirement of 30 to 50 lakh tonnes.

The government has estimated sugar production in the current year to be between 28 to 29 million tonnes as against the production of 3.31 million tonnes during the year 2018-19 due to the huge reduction in sugarcane acreage in Maharashtra and Karnataka, while the head of sugar industry Organization ISMA has projected the country's sugar production to be at a three-year low of 26 million tonnes during the year 2019-20. There are 534 sugar mills in the country. Sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh have started crushing sugarcane, while Maharashtra and Karnataka are getting delayed.