Comments
A decision on allowing sugar exports is expected to be taken next week by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Food headed by the Union Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee.
A Committee of Secretaries, which met on Friday, did not take a decision on permitting five lakh tonnes of sugar exports under the Open General Licence, and has left it to the EGoM, official sources told Business Line .
The Commerce Secretary Dr Rahul Khullar had said last month that a decision on allowing sugar exports will be taken only after a final report on the current season's production comes in on February 15. The Government had earlier decided to hold back exports of five lakh tonnes of sugar as prices of the item started rising, he said.
Though the EGOM on Food had met recently and had reviewed prices and availability of sugar in the country, it deferred a decision on exports of the sweetener due to the absence of Cabinet ministers including the Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, and the Food Minister, Mr K V Thomas.
Export favoured
The sugar industry has been pitching for allowing export. According to the industry, the production this year will be much greater than domestic demand for the item.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.