Indian Sugar Export Slowdown: A Sweet Deal or a Bitter Hold?

Indian sugar mills have contracts to export 600,000 metric tons in the 2024/25 marketing year but are hesitant to secure more deals due to rising local prices. Despite the slowdown, experts say mills can meet export quotas by the September deadline, ensuring momentum in global sugar trade.

Indian sugar mills have secured contracts to export 600,000 metric tons in the 2024/25 marketing year but show reluctance to engage in additional deals, as local prices have risen, according to five industry officials.

The slower export pace from India, the world's second-largest sugar producer, is expected to bolster global prices, which are nearing a three-year low. After limiting exports last year to stabilize domestic rates, India allowed 1 million tons of sugar exports this season to help mills dispatch surplus stocks.

With domestic sugar prices on an upward trajectory due to lower output and increased summer demand, exports have decelerated this month after last month's surge. However, Prakash Naiknavare of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd. asserts mills have ample time to fulfill the 1 million ton quota by September.

(With inputs from agencies.)