China has finally agreed to buy raw sugar from India following months of negotiations and the export is expected to begin early next year, according to the Commerce Ministry.
“A contract for exporting 15,000 tonnes of raw sugar has been entered to by the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) and COFCO, a Government of China’s run public sector company,” an official release on Thursday stated.
India plans to export 2 million tonne of raw sugar to China beginning next year, it added. ISMA has set a target of a total sugar export of 5 million tonne in 2018-19 sugar year (October-September).
Raw sugar is the second product after non-basmati rice that China has agreed to import from India this year following talks between officials from both sides. This is part of the effort to check the growing trade deficit between China and India, which crossed $60 billion in 2017-18.
India is world’s largest producer of sugar with 32 million tonne production in 2018 sugar year. It produces sugar of all three grades- raw, refined and white. Indian sugar is also of a high quality and is Dextran free because of the minimum time taken from cut to crush. “India is in a position to become a regular and dependable exporter of high quality sugar in significant volumes to China,” the release said.
Source :- Thehindubusinessline.com
