RAMESH KUMAR VERMA (pursuing company secretary course) 11 November 2010

Govt Likely to Free Sugar Exports Soon: Industry

NEW DELHI: The government is likely to free up sugar exports soon and also permit 2 million tonnes under Open General Licence , the president of Indian Sugar Mills Association said on Wednesday.

Under the OGL, the world's top producer after Brazil allows overseas sale of the sweetener without any restrictions.

Since bottoming out at a one-year low of 13 cents per lb on May 7, New York sugar futures climbed over 150 per cent on Tuesday amid supply worries in top producer Brazil and export uncertainty in India.

"There is no concern on production and exports. We will have an exportable surplus of 2 million tonnes under OGL which we expect the government to open up soon," Vivek Saraogi said.

Higher exports from India will help ease the New York March contract that climbed 3.85 per cent on Tuesday, to end at 33.11 cents per lb, the highest settlement close since early 1981.

Last week, government sources told Reuters that India would allow an extra 930,000 tonnes of the sweetener for overseas sale under a different scheme after Nov. 15, bringing the total exports since September to 1.5 million tonnes as global supplies remained tight.

"We are sticking to our earlier production estimates of 25.5 million tonnes in 2010/11," Saraogi said.

India produced 18.8 million tonnes of sugar in 2009/10. India's sugar marketing year runs from October to September.