Indian Sugar Exim Corporation (ISEC) and NCDEX eMarket Ltd (NeML) have joined hands to launch an online platform for spot selling of sugar and allied products.

Called Indian Sugar eMarket (ISeM), the electronic marketplace was declared open by Food and Public Distribution secretary Ravikant. The first deal happened within a few minutes when an unknown buyer bought 10 tonnes of sugar from Bulandshahr-based Anamika Sugar Mills.

This online spot selling market for Indian sugar as it can help in better price discovery for mills and buyers alike, apart from offering transparency in operations and ease in settlement of post trade formalities, said ISEC chairman Gaurav Goel said.

The e-marketplace would benefit both the industry and buyers alike. “Currently there are five layers of intermediaries between the mill and the final consumer. Even if we can eliminate at least two layers, there would a lot to gain for consumers,” Goel said. The ex-mill price of sugar had come down in the last few months, no such benefit was passed on to retail buyers of sugar in Delhi, Goel said, as an example.

The e-commerce platform would provide for trade options on continued market basis as also forward and reverse options as per the requirements of the buyer or the seller, according to a release.

The digital marketplace is being set up at a time Indian mills are anticipating a glut in sugar production which is expected to top 25 million tonnes and exploring options of bilateral trade with neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, which are net importers of sugar.

‘This is a platform of the sugar mills for the sugar mills. NeML is just helping them to set it up,” said Rajesh Sinha, managing Director and CEO of NeML. The sugar industry and mills may be doing their best. But their best is not enough. This e-platform, which is being created as ecosystem of stakeholders, may help fill the gap,” Goel said.

The e-platform is a step towards establishing a stable spot market for sugar and allied products which can serve as a base for the development of a vibrant future market in sugar in the times to come, the release said.

Besides, the platform can be expanded beyond sugar to related by-products, including molasses, ethanol, and bagasse as well as facilitating the purchase of consumables by the sugar mills, it said.

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