Traders are worried that sugar will be the next target now that rice exports have been banned by India. The ban, an attempt to control domestic prices by the government, has affected supplies globally. According to a Bloomberg report, sporadic rainfall received across India’s agricultural regions has caused worries about a shortage in sugar production. The potential deficiency will affect India's export abilities.
While the global sale of wheat and certain rice varieties has already been restricted to preserve supplies domestically and keep a tab on prices, this has led to a severe impact on food markets worldwide which were already suffering due to bad weather and the conflict in Ukraine.
Henrique Akamine, head of sugar and ethanol at Tropical Research Services, noted that the ban on rice exports reflects the government’s concern about food security and inflation. He said, “The worry now is that the government will probably follow suit and do something similar regarding sugar,” as quoted in the report.
Aditya Jhunjhunwala, president of the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), stated that sugarcane production in Maharashtra and Karnataka has suffered due to uneven rains in the month of June, and sugar output is expected to fall by 3.4 per cent from a year ago to 31.7 million tonnes in 2023-24. He added that the domestic demand can still be satisfied with the supplies, the report noted.
Indian food secretary Sanjeev Chopra criticised ISMA’s sugar production assessment on Friday, terming it “highly premature” and blamed it for creating “panic of a shortage in the country”, the report added quoting a report by PTI.