Sugar mills get 15 days more to seek export permit

NEW DELHI: Sugar mills exporting the sweetener sourced from a third party, will now get 15 days more time to seek permits from the Food Ministry.

Last month, the government had allowed export of 5,00,000 tonnes of sugar under the Open General Licence (OGL). For mills exporting their own sugar, the deadline was September 19 and for those planning to ship the sweetener sourced from the third party, the time-line is October 3.

"For sugar mills, which are exporting sugar sourced from a third party, the deadline has been extended by a fortnight till October 18," a senior Food Ministry official told PTI.

Out of the 5,00,000 tonnes, the official pointed out that the ministry has given permits for export of only 3.92 lakh tonnes of sugar.

In view of the higher production, the government has allowed export of 5,00,000 each in April, June and in last month under the OGL. It has also permitted export of 11 lakh tonnes of sugar under the Advance Licence Scheme.

The country is estimated to have produced 24.3 million tonnes of sugar in the current 2010-11 marketing year that ended today, compared to 19 million tonnes last year.

The annual demand is pegged at 21-21.5 million tonnes.