March 13, 2015
Sugaronline | http://goo.gl/WKQlvC
Indian sugar mills will be unable to sign any major export deals despite recent government incentives if prices do not rise about 10% to 14.4 cents per pound, a top industry official said, according to Reuters.
A. Vellayan, president of the Indian Sugar Mills Association, said the struggle to sell sugar is weighing on the mills' ability to pay sugarcane farmers dues of about INR150 billion (US$2.39 billion).
India decided in February to give mills a subsidy of INR4,000 (US$64) a tonne for exports of up to 1.4 million tonnes in an effort to reduce stockpiles after five years of surplus output.
"The global prices are so low that raw sugar exports are not viable despite the incentives," Vellayan said.