Indian Sugar Exam Corp Ltd has floated a tender to export 15,000-20,000 tonnes of raw sugar, a trade source told Reuters on Monday. The source said the company could agree to sell more than the tendered quantity if prices were attractive. Shipments will be made in the January to February 2008 period, the source said, after the start of the new crop season in October.
India last month agreed its first ever overseas sale of raw sugar with Dubai's al-Khaleej refinery, the Middle East's biggest refined sugar producer, and which until June had mainly soured supplies from Brazil, by far the world's largest producer.
A senior sugar trade official told Reuters in an interview on Friday that India would look to step up exports of raw sugar to neighbouring countries as it offered better returns. Processing raw sugar into its white form costs mills an average of 700-800 rupees ($17.34-19.82) per tonne, experts say.
Total sugar output in India, the world's second-largest producer, is likely to touch a record 28.5 million tonnes in the sugarcane crushing season to September 2007, up from 19.3 million the year before.
Next year that figure could reach 30 million tonnes, according to industry estimates. And with domestic consumption of 19-20 million tonnes annually there is room for large exports. The government recently offered a slew of incentives to make Indian exports competitive as mills were hit by falling prices overseas. Brazil and Thailand dominate the world sugar market.
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