Mumbai:
The government will review a ban on sugar exports
once the festival demand ends by the end of this month,
agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said. He said the government
would decide whether to lift the ban once mills ramp up
the crushing of new season cane.
The
government banned sugar exports in July this year following
a sharp rise in prices and the decision to review the
export ban follows expectations of a bumper crop this
year. Sugar mills and exporters have also been long demanding
a reversal of the export ban.
Pawar
said sugar production in the country is likely to touch
22.5- million tonnes to 22.7-million tonnes in the crushing
season starting this month. Industry estimates put sugar
output in the season ended September at around 19.5-million
tonnes. India consumes about 18-million tonnes of sugar
annually.
The
government, Pawar said, would announce a financial package,
including a minimum support price, for wheat growers for
the new crop. "The cabinet will take up the issue
once the prime minister returns from his foreign tour,"
he said.
Last
year, the government failed to procure enough wheat from
farmers to replenish buffer stocks as producers preferred
to sell their crops to private traders for better prices.
As a result, the country was forced to import wheat for
the first time in six years. It has already contracted
for 5.5-million tonnes of wheat purchases through global
tenders.
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