Sugar body calls for export push

The Indian government's decision to build 4 to 5 million tonnes of buffer stock of sugar has not gone well with the sugar industry.

In an interview to Commodity Online, Indian Sugar Millis Association (ISMA) general secretary S L Jain said that creating a buffer stock of sugar is not the solution.

"This will not help. The problem is gigantic and others measures are needed to support it, like export promotion efforts are needed," Jain said.

He said India's market is limited and it needs to have huge exports to balance the economy and others stake holders demand.

Jain pointed out that there is a big difference between India and Brazil. "We have 50 million farmers and Brazil have around 60, 000 farmers. We have to develop viable schemes so that sugar factory and farmers can get better price," he said.

"One important thing is that government's export objective shouldn't be at the cost of sugar factory, no country can ever survive merely on cane cost," Jain said.

He also flayed the government's present policy of declaring minimum support price for sugar. "In fact, the Supreme Court has directed the government to declare it before the season," he added.

The Uttar Pradesh government's decision to reverse the ongoing sugar policy will definitely impact state sugar mills. An ISMA delegation will soon meet the UP Chief Minister Mayawati and apprise her of the difficulty.