• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Proposal to be taken up at Cabinet meeting next week

BATTING FOR ETHANOL:The Union Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Sharad Pawar, in conversation with the President, Bio-Diesel Association of India, Mr Sandeep Chaturvedi, at the inauguration of Bio-Energy-Tech 2007 in the Capital on Friday. In his address, Mr Pawar called for following the Brazilian model of producing ethanol from primary sugarcane juice. - Kamal Narang

New Delhi , Jan. 5

The Union Agriculture and Food Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, on Friday said the Centre would fully lift the ban on sugar exports from the country within the next three weeks.

Difficult proposition

"We will take up the proposal at the next meeting of the Union Cabinet," Mr Pawar told presspersons on the sidelines of a conference on bio-diesel here.

At the same time, he admitted that it would not be easy to export due to the decline in international sugar prices in recent months.

The Government would look into a proposal to reimburse internal transport costs and ocean freight in order to make exports more competitive, he added.

Concern over surplus

Expressing concern over the possibility of cane arrears build-up in view of declining sugar realisations, the Minister even suggested the option of creating a buffer (funded from the exchequer) in order to deal with the anticipated surplus production.

Mr Pawar claimed that production in the current sugar season (October-September) would touch a record 230-240 lakh tonnes and, if opening stocks with mills are added, the total availability would be 270 lt. "The worry is how to find a market when the domestic annual consumption is (only) around 18.5 lt", he pointed out.

More Stories on : Agricultural Policy | Exports & Imports | Sugar

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Ministry working on 2nd power equipment co plan

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line