The government on Friday said it is not considering any proposal as of now to increase the sugar export quota from the present 60 lakh tonnes for this marketing year ending September.

The food ministry has allowed 60 lakh tonnes of sugar exports for the current 2022-23 marketing year (October-September). The country exported around 110 lakh tonnes, an all-time high, of sugar in the 2021- 22 marketing year.

“The sugar production is going down by about 9 lakh tonnes, that is our estimate from the previous year. So keeping that in view, as of now there is no proposal to increase the export quota,” Union food secretary Sanjeev Chopra said.

Asked that the ministry was to assess domestic production this month before deciding on further exports of the sweetener, he said: “The production figures have come down. We have to see this buffer stock requirement first. And once that is met, then only we can take a call….. as of now there are no proposals for any further export quota.”

Mills have already contracted to export almost the entire 60 lakh tonnes of sugar that the government has permitted. A large quantity has already been shipped.

Wheat

Even as the farmers were worried over the rising temperature impacting standing wheat, Chopra asserted that they are unlikely to get damaged although the temperature is a little bit on the higher side and expressed the confidence that the output would be a record 112 million tonnes this year.

The food secretary said the ban on wheat exports would continue, boosting the availability of grains for government procurement. He said the government would procure around 35 million tonnes of wheat in the 2023-24 marketing year (April-March).

The bulk procurement of wheat, a major rabi crop, takes place between April and June. Chopra said wheat prices have come down and would ease further after the arrival of new crop.