NEW DELHI, Dec 24: The Indian government has issued a formal order allowing mills to export sugar, a trade ministry statement said on Monday, permitting overseas shipments of the sweetener for the third consecutive year.

Earlier, the government had allowed mills in India, the world's top sugar consumer, to ship out the sweetener until the end of the 2011/12 season. Mills shipped out more than 3.5 million tons of sugar in the previous season.

In India, also the world's biggest producer of the sweetener behind Brazil, the sugar year runs from October to September.

India is likely to produce about 24 million tons of sugar in 2012/13, down from 26 million tons in the previous year, but higher than about 22 million tons of local consumption.

On Oct. 1, 2012, when the current season began, carryover stocks from the previous season were at about 6.5 million tons.—Reuters