Will Higher Sugar Consumption in Festive Season Will Lead to Import More Sugar?
Amid speculations of higher consumption of sugar during up-coming festival season. There are speculations among sugar traders that even though India had a record sugar production during last season but to meet the domestic sugar demand, the Indian govt. may plan to allow imports of up to three lakh tonnes of raw sugar into the country. News agency Reuters had already given a different reason to go for import of sugars in India. According to its old reports (June 2017) sugar imports may take place due to strong price plunge and strengthening of Indian rupee.
Earlier to this government had already hiked sugar import duty to save interests of domestic sugar producers. During the current marketing year, 2016-17 the govt. had allowed duty free import of five lakh tonnes of sugar into the country. Out of which, three lakh tonnes of quota has been allocated to the mills in south, 1.5 lakh tonnes to the mills in western India and some 0.5 lakh tonnes to the mills in eastern India. On the one hand consumers will be having a certain sweet festival season, but sugar producers may feel a bitter taste if duty on imports are relaxed or reduced. As government may reduce duty from 40 per cent to 25 per cent for imports of raw sugar.
Earlier in 2016 most of the raw sugar came from Brazil and entered India from Kandala port with modal average of 1.5 crore rupees.
This is also to be noticed that followed by Brazil, India is world’s second largest sugar producing nation, but the irony is that every festival season changes sugar consumption patter drastically.
