New Delhi: An empowered group of ministers on food, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, has deferred a key meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, to consider allowing fresh sugar exports in the marketing year through September, said a senior government official.

A new date for the meeting hasn’t been fixed yet, said the official.

Food minister K V Thomas last week said sugar output could rise by 300,000 tonne to 25.5 million tonne this year, bolstering the case for allowing more sugar exports when EGoM meets on April 25. India, the world’s second-largest sugar producer and exporter, expects sugar consumption to touch 21.5 million to 22 million tonne. The government has already permitted exports of three million tonne, in three equal tranches, so far this year.

He said the EGoM will also decide modalities for allocating export the quota of one million tonne approved by the EGoM on March 26. “We are not against allowing some more quantity of sugar exports as our position is good,” he said.

Thomas’ statement assumed importance as agriculture minister Sharad Pawar this month had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this month, complaining that the department of food’s “negative approach” to sugar exports has resulted in heavy losses in export earnings, which could have been used to clear cane arrears to farmers that have crossed R8,000 crore.

India’s sugar output rose 13% to 24.63 million tonne until April 15 on higher cane crushing in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, according to the data by the Indian Sugar Mills Association.

The industry body expects sugar production to touch 26 million tonne in 2011-12 and is pitching hard for fresh exports so that opening stocks of sugar for the next year get reduced to 5 million to 5.5 million tonne, compared with 6.8 million tonne in 2011-12. Good production as well as 6.8 million tonne of opening stocks in 2011-12 improved domestic supplies and kept prices subdued, dragging down mills’ sales realisation, Isma said earlier this month.