NEW DELHI, Nov 21: India, flush with sugar stocks, hopes to export up to two million tons of white sugar in the new season ending in September with firming up of global prices and government incentives, trade and industry officials said.

We have already done 200,000 tonnes of exports in the new sugar year which began in October and going by the trend we should do two million tons in 2001/02, Vinay Kumar, managing director of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories told Reuters.

India exported 1.24 million tons of sugar in 2000/01, up from 66,000 tons in ther previous year.

Kumar said white sugar prices were hovering around $230-235 in the international market which was a “workable” price.

India started the current sugar year in October with an opening stock of 11.7 million tons, compared with 10.0 million tons a year ago.

The country produced 18.5 million tons of sugar in 2000/01, up from 18.2 million in the previous season. It is likely to produce 17.5 million tons of sugar in the crop year ending September 2002, according to trade estimates.

Indian sugar will become very competitive in the international market following the recent incentives given and planned by the government, said Prakash Naiknaware, managing director of Maharashtra Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories.

India this month liberalised the sugar sector, permitting exports of raw sugar, approving three exchanges for futures trading and making adjustments in the freesale sugar release mechanism to help exports.

Traders said the government was also considering amendments to the law to give incentives on transporting sugar from the mills to the ports for exports.

We should do about two million tons of sugar exports this year with all factors favourable, Naiknaware said.

He said the domestic stocks will get depleted, the domestic price line for the mills will improve and exports will become competitive.

Traders said Thailand will enter the export market between November and March but the real threat for Indian exports will come after March when the Brazilian sugar exports begin.

Naiknaware said Indian exports should get a push now with demand emerging from tradtional markets like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia and certain African countries like Yemen, Sudan and Somalia.

Kumar, who is also the member secretary of the Indian Sugar Exim Corp, which looks after private sugar exports, said export of two million tons would mean a nearly 800,000 tons increase over last year’s sales.

This added with a increase in domestic consumption of 500,000 tons and a production fall of a million tons will bring down the stocks considerably, Kumar said.—Reuters