The All India Sugar Trade Association (AISTA) has said that sugar mills have exported 33.49 lakh tonnes of sweetener from October 1, 2019 till May 4, 2020, in the current marketing year (October 2019 to September 2020), with help from government's financial assistance. Mills have contracted to export 42 lakh tonnes of sugar so far as against 60 the lakh tonnes quota assigned by Food Ministry.
With five months still left for 2019-20 marketing year to end, the association feels the mills have the potential to fulfil their exports commitments. India exported sugar to 60 countries, but around 60 percent of the total shipments were to Iran, Somalia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
The government has allowed export of 60 lakh tonnes of sugar under Maximum Admissible Export Quota (MAEQ) during 2019-20 marketing year to liquidate surplus sugar in global markets. The country had exported 38 lakh tonnes of sugar during 2018-19 marketing year.