Sugar exports to fall more than 24 pc in 2020-21: AISTA

India's sugar exports are likely to dip more than 24 per  cent in the current year to September due to logistical constraints such as a shortage of containers and congestion at the country's ports, said All India Sugar Trade Association (AISTA).

India, the world's second biggest sugar producer after Brazil, is likely to sell 4.3 million tonnes of the sweetener on the world market in the 2020-21 season against 5.7 million tonnes shipped in the previous year, said R.P. Bhagria, chief executive of AISTA.

Also, sugar shipments to Iran, a key buyer of India's sweetener, looks likely to drop this year, Bhagria added.

In the 2019/20 season, Iran imported a record 1.14 million tonnes of sugar from India, accounting for some 20 per cent of the country's sugar exports, according to a Indian customs data.

Late last year, it was reported that India's sugar exports to Iran are expected to be significantly lower in the 2020-21 season due to a shortage of Indian rupees. Under U.S. sanctions, Tehran is unable to use U.S. dollars to transact oil sales.

Earlier, Iran had a deal to sell its oil to India in exchange for rupees, which it used to import critical goods including sugar but New Delhi stopped buying Tehran's oil in May 2019 after its U.S. sanctions waiver expired.

Mills in India, the world's biggest consumer of the sugar, are expected to churn out 29.9 million tonnes of the sweetener in the 2020-21 season, up from 27.40 million tonnes produced in the previous season.

Output in top sugar producing states Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra is expected at 10.5 and 10.2 million tonnes respectively.