Govt may consider more sugar exports as output rises

India, the world’s second-biggest sugar producer, may consider allowing additional exports as production expands for a second year, a government official said.

A decision on shipments will be made after assessing the actual production in the crop season that began on October 1, Food Secretary B C Gupta told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday. Output may total 24.5 million tonnes this year, according to the food ministry, the first time in three years supply exceeds demand.

Additional shipments by India may pressure raw sugar prices in New York, which have fallen 36 per cent from a three-decade high in February. Traders shipped an estimated 1 million tons of sugar in the six months through March 31, according to the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories.

The government April 19 set rules for shipment of additional 500,000 tonnes of sugar under the so-called open general license plan over the next four-and-half months.

India’s sugar output climbed 25 percent to 21.8 million tons between October 1 and April 15, Vinay Kumar, managing director of the national federation, said on April 21.