In a move that could push exports by 14 per cent compared to the previous year, Indian sugar mills have started selling sugar without the support of government subsidies, news agency Reuters, in a report said.

India is the world’s largest consumer of sugar. In 2019-20, Brazil, India, China, and Thailand were among the largest sugar-producing countries.

The Reuters report added that “the exports will help the world’s second-biggest sugar producer to lower stockpiles and support local prices, which, at odds with the global market, have been under pressure from oversupply at home.”

“India could easily export 6.5 million tonnes in the current season. Exports could rise even further if global prices rise above 18 cents,” Reuters quoted Prakash Naiknavare, managing director of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd, as saying.

According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), sugar production in India was up by 31 per cent in 2020-21 till January against the same period of the previous year.

According to a Business Standard report, the ISMA expecyed sugar production in Uttar Pradesh — the country's largest sugar producing state — to decline marginally to 12.30 MT in the 2020-21 season from 12.64 MT in the current season.

Besides, UP, Maharashtra and Karnataka are the two top sugar producing states in the country.