India has allocated 8,606 metric tonnes of sugar to be exported to the US under the Tariff Rate Quota scheme, according to a notification from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).

The allocated sugar export under the TRQ scheme is for the US fiscal year 2025.

The export of sugar (HS Code 17010000) to the US and EU under TRQ is currently ‘Free’, subject to certain contains.

“Certificate of Origin, if required, for preferential export of sugar to USA shall be issued by Additional Director General of Foreign Trade, Mumbai on the recommendation of Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) regarding entity and quantity for which eligible,” said the DGFT notification.

“Effect of this Public Notice: The quantity of 8606 Metric Tonnes Raw Value (MTRV) of raw cane sugar to be exported to USA under TRQ scheme from 01.10.2024 to 30.09.2025 has been notified,” the notification added.

A tariff rate quota essentially is a quota for exports at relatively low duties. Once the limit is exhausted, a higher tariff applies to additional shipments.

India had extended the restrictions on the export of sugar until further orders, in October last year. Initially, the restrictions were imposed starting June 1 to October 31, 2022, and later extended by a year till October 31, 2023.

The restriction is, however, not applicable to sugar being exported to the EU and the US under the concession (CXL) and TRQ quota.

The idea behind the sugar export restriction initially was to make prices of sugar stable domestically.