17 JAN, 2013, RITURAJ TIWARI, ET BUREAU
NEW DELHI: The government is likely to open sugar exports for the 2012-13 season soon. The food ministry is going to issue notification to start exports, which have become unviable amid crashing global prices due to excess supply from Brazil . "For the fresh season which began from October 2012, we will soon be issuing directives for allowing sugar exports. In the last season, the country exported 3.4 million tonne," said a food ministry official.
Sugar will be exported under the open general licence scheme which requires exporters to obtain a registration certificate (RC) from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade. "Exporters can obtain an RC for shipping a maximum of 20,000 tonne at a time. They may apply for another RC only after shipping at least 10,000 tonne," the official said. The DGFT issued a notification regarding sugar exports last month. "There's a big confusion as the DGFT notification doesn't mention the sugar season. It should have coordinated with the food ministry for ascertaining the availability of sugar for exports in the current season, Now, DGFT will have to issue a fresh notification after the food ministry releases its directives on exports ," the official said.
The government has relaxed the procedure for the export of pharmaceutical grade and specialty sugar freeing it from any kind of registration. "Exports of such sugar will not require any registration with the DGFT," the commerce ministry said. The country is likely to produce surplus sugar for a third year in a row. While the government put the estimate at 24 million tonne, the industry expects the output to go up to 24.5 million tonne as against last year's record production of 26.2 million tonne.
"There is an opportunity to export at least 1.5 million tonne this year too. Last year, we exported 3.4 million tonne after sugar was put under open general licence," said another food ministry official. But the declining global prices may not help exports. Global prices have crashed from around $650 (Rs 35,750) a tonne to $513 (Rs 28,215) a tonne in the last four months making exports unviable .
Industry experts believe that the bearish trend for sugar is likely to continue for this year as the global market is flush with a surplus of 5-7 million tonne and the market will get a surplus of another 7 million tonne in 2013-14 . "Exports are completely unviable even if a permission is granted . For viability, global prices should be in excess of $650, which looks distant looking at the current global supply," said Abinash Verma, director general, ISMA.
NEW DELHI: The government is likely to open sugar exports for the 2012-13 season soon. The food ministry is going to issue notification to start exports, which have become unviable amid crashing global prices due to excess supply from Brazil . "For the fresh season which began from October 2012, we will soon be issuing directives for allowing sugar exports. In the last season, the country exported 3.4 million tonne," said a food ministry official.
Sugar will be exported under the open general licence scheme which requires exporters to obtain a registration certificate (RC) from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade. "Exporters can obtain an RC for shipping a maximum of 20,000 tonne at a time. They may apply for another RC only after shipping at least 10,000 tonne," the official said. The DGFT issued a notification regarding sugar exports last month. "There's a big confusion as the DGFT notification doesn't mention the sugar season. It should have coordinated with the food ministry for ascertaining the availability of sugar for exports in the current season, Now, DGFT will have to issue a fresh notification after the food ministry releases its directives on exports ," the official said.
The government has relaxed the procedure for the export of pharmaceutical grade and specialty sugar freeing it from any kind of registration. "Exports of such sugar will not require any registration with the DGFT," the commerce ministry said. The country is likely to produce surplus sugar for a third year in a row. While the government put the estimate at 24 million tonne, the industry expects the output to go up to 24.5 million tonne as against last year's record production of 26.2 million tonne.
"There is an opportunity to export at least 1.5 million tonne this year too. Last year, we exported 3.4 million tonne after sugar was put under open general licence," said another food ministry official. But the declining global prices may not help exports. Global prices have crashed from around $650 (Rs 35,750) a tonne to $513 (Rs 28,215) a tonne in the last four months making exports unviable .
Industry experts believe that the bearish trend for sugar is likely to continue for this year as the global market is flush with a surplus of 5-7 million tonne and the market will get a surplus of another 7 million tonne in 2013-14 . "Exports are completely unviable even if a permission is granted . For viability, global prices should be in excess of $650, which looks distant looking at the current global supply," said Abinash Verma, director general, ISMA.
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