India set to ease new curbs on sugar mill exports.

NEW DELHI: India will allow sugar mills to apply for exports of up to 25,000 tonnes in one application, government sources said on Wednesday, easing a directive a day earlier that prohibited mills from seeking approval for more than 10,000 tonnes.

Ministers had agreed to lift all restrictions on sugar exports on May 2 and the food ministry on Friday issued a formal order removing the need for its permission for shipments. It asked millers only to disclose the quantities they sold overseas.

On Tuesday, however, the trade ministry said exporters needed to apply for overseas sales and could request approval for not more than 10,000 tonnes at a time. Also, they had to ship out the quantity within 30 days of the permission or else they would be barred from selling the sweetener overseas.

The changes on Wednesday mean mills can now export sugar within 60 days of the permission and can apply for additional exports once they sell 50 percent of the existing order, one of the sources said.

The sugar industry had criticised the trade ministry's Tuesday order.

Abinash Verma, director general of the Indian Sugar Mills Association, had called on the government for an "immediate withdrawal" of the trade ministry's order.

India, the world's top consumer and the second-biggest producer of sugar, could churn out 1.6 percent more to 25.5 million tonnes in the year from October, while a domestic surplus could exceed 2 million tonnes even if consumption grows, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com