The Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, today said there is scope for further exports of one million tonnes of sugar as the country has surplus stocks.
The Government has so far permitted exports of 2 million tonnes of sugar for the current 2011-12 marketing year ending September. Wheat and rice exports were allowed in September last year under the Open General Licence (OGL), with no quantity restrictions, unlike sugar.
“We have stock for additional exports of one million tonnes each in wheat, rice and sugar,” Mr Pawar told presspersons on the sidelines of a kharif conference.
India, the world’s second largest sugar producer and the biggest consumer, is estimated to produce 26 million tonnes of sweetener in the 2011-12 marketing year, as against 24.2 million tonnes in the previous year. The annual domestic demand is pegged at 22 million tonnes.
The country had exported 2.6 million tonnes of sugar in the 2010-11 marketing year.
India is estimated to produce a record wheat and rice harvest of 88.31 million tonnes and 102.75 million tonnes, respectively, in the 2011-12 crop year (July-June).
The country had harvested 86.87 million tonnes of wheat and 95.98 million tonnes of rice in the previous crop year.
Asked about the Government’s decision to ban cotton exports, Mr Pawar said: “I have not heard about it and I am coming to know about it from you all. I will go to the office and find out about it.”
“The export of cotton has been prohibited till further orders,” the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification today.