Sugar mills having trouble getting orders even after export permission, prices increased by 10% in domestic market

New Delhi| Even after getting permission from the government to export 1 million tones of sugar for the current session 2024-25, Indian traders are facing difficulties in getting orders. Indian sugar mills are demanding higher premiums than London prices, which foreign buyers are unwilling to pay, four dealers said. The pace of Chinese exports from India has also come down to a three-year low.

A Mumbai dealer said, local sugar prices have increased by about 10 per cent since export permission was granted from the Centre. The mills are now asking for a hefty premium on global prices for exports of their allotted quota of 3.174 per cent. Sugar mills have contracted this week to export 20,000 tones of white and refined sugar, dealers reported. The contract is made between $490 and $510 per tone, about $10-25 per tone higher than benchmark London futures.

Actually, sugar mills have to export the allotted quota before September, 2025, so they are not showing haste in the contract. Instead they are waiting for global sugar prices to rise. Uttar Pradesh has exported around one lakh tones of sugar from the quota of 2,74,184 tones allocated.