Sugar exports are expected to rise to more than 9 million tonnes in the current marketing year ending in September from 71-7.2 million tonnes in the previous year, according to industry body ISMA. The sugar marketing year runs from October to September. “According to market reports and port information, so far, about 8 million tons of sugar export contracts have been signed. Between October 2021 and March 2022, about 5.717 million tons of sugar were exported abroad, while around the same period last year, 3.185 million tonnes were exported,” the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said in a statement.

About 70-800,000 tonnes of sugar are being prepared for export by April 2022. “This year, the main export destinations were Indonesia and Bangladesh, which accounted for nearly 44 per cent of total exports, while Indonesia and Afghanistan shared 48 per cent in the same period last year,” the association said. ISMA said it had revised its production forecast for the 2021-22 marketing year to 3.5 million tonnes. It also revised its export estimates to more than 9 million tonnes.

“Considering the above and the domestic consumption of 27.2 million tonnes, the closing balance will be 6.8 million tonnes by the end of the sugar season on September 30, 2022,” it added. More recently, Food Minister Sudhanshu Pandey had said that India’s sugar exports in the 2021-22 marketing year ending in September are expected to exceed 8 million tonnes, surpassing the previous year’s level. In the 2020-21 marketing year, the country exported 7.23 million tonnes of sweeteners.

In terms of production, ISMA said sugar mills produced 32.991 million tonnes of sugar in the current 2021-22 marketing year as of April 15, compared to 29.182 million tonnes a year earlier. In Maharashtra, sugar production stood at 12.648 million tonnes as of April 15, compared to 10.395 million tonnes during the same period in the previous marketing year. Sugar production in Uttar Pradesh fell from 10.086 million tonnes to 9.441 million tonnes during the period under review.