Govt to lay thrust on sugar exports

In an effort to give further impetus to export of sugar, the government has constituted a committee under the chairmanship of joint secretary (sugar). The committee also includes members from both the apex bodies of sugar industry and leading exporters of sugar. The committee is expected to submit its report within two months. This was stated by the Consumer Affairs Minister, Food and Public Distribution Sharad Yadav while speaking at the 69th annual general body meeting of The Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) on Wednesday.

According to Yadav, the government has already announced several incentives like reimbursement of the internal transport and freight charges on export shipment of sugar, neutralisation of ocean freight disadvantage on export shipment at the rate of Rs 350 per tonne and reimbursement of handling and marketing charges at the rate of Rs 500 per tonne on the export shipment. Stating that sugarcane can be the energy source for the future, Yadav said that more and more sugar factories are going in for co-generation power as also ethanol production. Thus, sugar industry is supplementing the efforts of the government. Speaking on the occasion, S.V. Balasubramaniam, president of ISMA, said that rapid increase in sugarcane production, its supply to the sugar industry and consequently sugar production much above the normal consumption increase has resulted in enormous glut of sugar for over three years and has led to rapid fall in the sugar prices.