Govt ferments biotech-based plan to tap into EU sugar mkt
The government is mulling a biotech-based plan for breaking into the 4 million-tonne market for sugar that is getting vacated in the EU following withdrawal of subsidies to this segment.
By Prabha Jagannathan, TNN |
NEW DELHI: The government is mulling a biotech-based plan for breaking into the 4 million-tonne market for sugar that is getting vacated in the EU following withdrawal of subsidies to this segment.
The plan to boost the sugarcane economy manifold is pegged on tapping into key work done by the world���s top producer Brazil in sugar genome sequencing.
Access to the gene map of sugarcane is expected to significantly boost yield of cane per acre and production of sugar per quintal of cane, addressing fast increasing domestic consumption, export and ethanol production issues.
Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar is understood to have broached the subject of making contacts with those working in Brazil on genome sequencing of sugarcane with agri-biotech industry biggies such as Dr Clive James, the founder/chairman of International Society for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA). ���We���ll be happy to help however we can,��� Dr James, who met Mr Pawar during his visit here last week, told ET.
The EU withdrew sops for sugar ������ estimated at $2.1 billion annually in the shape of export subsidies to white sugar and production refunds for sugar used by chemical industry ������ after losing a case in the WTO to Brazil in 2005. That move, lauded by the domestic sugar industry here, promptly boosted global sugar prices and left export space open to non-EU white sugar producers such as India. The move is significant since the ban on sugar exports has been lifted recently.
India is the largest producer-consumer of sugar in the world and the perception is that a huge potential in sugar exports remains untapped as yet. While costs in India are high, Brazil boasts the lowest cost per tonne of sugar production in the world and produces around 25% of the total sugarcane in the world at 311 million tonnes per year. Half of the sugarcane produced is used to produce ethanol, propping up the country���s extensive green fuel programme.
The plan to boost the sugarcane economy manifold is pegged on tapping into key work done by the world���s top producer Brazil in sugar genome sequencing.
Access to the gene map of sugarcane is expected to significantly boost yield of cane per acre and production of sugar per quintal of cane, addressing fast increasing domestic consumption, export and ethanol production issues.
Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar is understood to have broached the subject of making contacts with those working in Brazil on genome sequencing of sugarcane with agri-biotech industry biggies such as Dr Clive James, the founder/chairman of International Society for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA). ���We���ll be happy to help however we can,��� Dr James, who met Mr Pawar during his visit here last week, told ET.
The EU withdrew sops for sugar ������ estimated at $2.1 billion annually in the shape of export subsidies to white sugar and production refunds for sugar used by chemical industry ������ after losing a case in the WTO to Brazil in 2005. That move, lauded by the domestic sugar industry here, promptly boosted global sugar prices and left export space open to non-EU white sugar producers such as India. The move is significant since the ban on sugar exports has been lifted recently.
India is the largest producer-consumer of sugar in the world and the perception is that a huge potential in sugar exports remains untapped as yet. While costs in India are high, Brazil boasts the lowest cost per tonne of sugar production in the world and produces around 25% of the total sugarcane in the world at 311 million tonnes per year. Half of the sugarcane produced is used to produce ethanol, propping up the country���s extensive green fuel programme.
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