India, the world's second biggest sugar exporter, has lowered the sugar export quota to 6 million metric tons for 2022-23, a sharp reduction compared to last year, when it exported more than 11 million tons.
The move by the world’s biggest sugar producer comes amid a delay in crushing in Brazil, the world’s largest sugar exporter.
“In order to prevent the uncontrolled export of sugar and with a view to ensuring a sufficient availability of sugar for domestic consumption at a reasonable price, the government has decided to allow export of sugar upto a reasonable limit till 31 October 2023,” the food ministry notification read.
India started regulating its sugar exports in 2021 to ensure sufficient local supply following output concerns.
The government expects the country’s sugar production to be about 36.5 million tons during the current season (October 2022-September 2023) against the domestic consumption of around 28 million tons, leaving an eight million surplus for shipments.
In October, mills manufactured a little over 400,000 tons of sugar, 14.73 percent less than in Oct. 2021, according to the cooperative body National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd.
Sugar prices in New York jumped more than 6 percent in late October after the industry signaled a further hike in view of the announcement by India.