Cabinet to decide on incentivizing sugar exports

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said here the cabinet will decide later Tuesday on incentives for producing raw sugar.

"Before the cabinet today (Tuesday) is a decision on export of a new product, that is, raw sugar," Pawar told mediapersons here on the sidelines of the Asia Africa Agri Business Forum organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

"India has been exporting only white sugar, it has not been exporting raw sugar and WTO rules allow us to give incentives for production and export of new product like raw sugar," he added.

Explaing that after taking a "conscious decision to enter the international market", a ministerial group has prepared the proposal going to the cabinet for approval.

"Our effort will be to see the market is improved. Unless we export a sizable quantity, the market will not improve. We want to be able to pay farmers a remunerative price," the agriculture minister said.

"The next two years our efforts should be to export at least 40 lakh ( 4 million) tonnes," Pawar added.

India is the world's second biggest producer of sugar after Brazil.