India said it has capped sugar exports to safeguard its own supplies and ease inflation, this comes days after a ban on wheat shipments sent global prices skyrocketing because of the war in Ukraine.
India, the second largest world producer of and exporter of sugar after Brazil according to International Sugar Organisation, said on Tuesday that shipments will now be limited to 10 million tons for the current marketing year to September. This is India’s first export curb in six years.
The decision was taken “with a view to maintain the domestic availability and price stability during the sugar season,” the food ministry said in a statement. Sugar exports are expected to hit a record high this marketing year, with contracts signed worth around nine million tons, and 7.8 million tons already shipped, it said.
India cited inflation and its own food security needs, in mid-May when it banned any new wheat exports without government approval after the country experienced the hottest March on record which is blamed on climate change, affected India’s harvest.
Although India is a marginal player in the global market, the move in capping sugar exports sparked a further surge in already-soaring global food prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which began in February and affected led to the increase of wheat prices.
Source: ENCA, The Citizen, News.com, Daily Sabah, image from ENCA