UP sugar mills sign export contracts for 6 lakh tonnes; those in Maha yet to ink one

It’s not even a week when the Centre announced the sugar export subsidy policy for the ongoing season and millers from Uttar Pradesh (UP) have taken the lead by signing export contracts for over six lakh tonnes of raw and white sugar.

Many factories in UP have entered into export agreements on the assumption that they would receive the same quota as last year, traders feel. Of the allotted 60 lakh tonne of sugar, UP’s share normally comes up to 20 lakh tonne.

Meanwhile mills from Maharashtra are yet to sign a single export contract. According to senior industry people, almost all mills in Solapur having resorted to underselling. Around 50 per cent of the mills in Ahmednagar and Marathwada have been selling sugar below the government notified Rs 3,100 per quintal.

The Western India Sugar Mills Association (WISMA) has written to the Centre to issue a sugar export notification and mill-wise allocation of maximum admissible export quantity (MAEQ) at the earliest so that exports gather momentum and maximum quantity is exported before the arrival of Brazilian sugar in the market, BB Thombre, president, WISMA said. According to traders, the export contracts have been signed at Rs 2,400 to Rs 2,420 per quintal.

Thombre added while the ex-mill rates are around Rs 2,700-Rs 2,800 per quintal, some brokers and traders were taking undue advantage and were purchasing sugar at Rs 2,500-Rs 2,600 per quintal.