Govt asks sugar exporters to submit data on quantity lifted on June 2 but not exported yet

The government has asked exporters to submit data on the amount of sugar dispatched from mills to ports prior to June 1 for shipments, giving hope to them that it would issue fresh export release orders (EROs) for the sweetener.

The government has also asked for the type of sugar — raw or white — and the code of the plants from where the commodity has been lifted.

“It has come to the notice of the Directorate of Sugar and Vegetable Oils that there are cases where exporters had lifted sugar from the sugar mills on or before 31.05.2022 but the sugar has not yet been exported/shipped,” the food department said in a letter to exporters on Thursday. ET has seen a copy of the letter.

Sugar exporters have alleged lack of fairness and haphazard implementation of the government decision to restrict exports to 10 million tonnes in the current season that started in October 2021.

The government had capped the export quantity to keep prices under check. On May 24, it asked mills to apply online starting June 1 for approval to export sugar, subsequently announcing a quota of 1 million tonnes for exporters and 0.8 million tonnes for sugar mills.

The exporters claim that the portal on which they were to apply for the quota was not working properly, preventing several of them from putting in their applications. They also say that the government applied the cut-off date without giving a prior notice for submission of applications. Exporters have also objected to the pro rata allocation of quota among applicants.

“If they are asking for this information, they may be thinking of issuing some fresh ERO,” said a large sugar exporter, without wanting to be named.

There is a large amount of raw sugar lying on the ports. Raw sugar is not fit for human consumption and also anything which is at the port cannot be consumed domestically, hence it does not help the cause of maintaining a carry-over stock and should be allowed to export, he added.

Traders had contracted 9 million tonnes of sugar exports before the ban. Mills had dispatched 8.2 million tonnes, of which 7.8 million tonnes had already been shipped, according to government data.