The country’s two leading sugar industry bodies, representing both private mills and cooperatives, have decided to ship out the sweetener jointly through the Indian Sugar Exim Corporation (ISEC) to kick-start the mandatory export programme announced by the government earlier this month.
ISEC is run jointly by the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) and the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories (NFCSF). The food ministry earlier this month announced quotas for mills and co-operatives for mandatory exports of four million tonne of sugar in 2015-16.
“ISMA and NFCSF are working shoulder to shoulder with the government in solving the current crisis of the sugar industry and is not supporting any negative campaigns against the government,” a joint statement by ISMA president A Vellayan and NFCSF president Kallappa Awade said on Wednesday, seeking to dispel any perceived animosity between the crisis-ridden sugar industry and the government.
The industry bodies appreciated the steps taken by the government, which include pushing for achieving the 10% blending of fuel ethanol with petrol, ensuring that the banks disburse the soft loan quickly, assisting the industry in their export initiative. These steps should help sugar mills prepare better to pay cane prices to farmers in 2015-16, they added.