India is competing against top sugar producer Brazil to export raw sugar to leading importer Russia, but no deals have been done yet, said S.L. Jain, chief executive of India's sugar export corporation ISEC, on Monday. "We are neck and neck with Brazil," Jain told Reuters in a phone interview. "There have been a few enquiries (to move Indian raw sugar to Russia.)"
He said freight rates from west India to the Black Sea were roughly $72-75 per tonne, similar to freight from Brazil to the Black Sea. Freight rates have been soaring recently due to strong Chinese demand for hard commodities. Jain declined to give current FOB prices for Indian raw sugar.
However, he said Russia was becoming less reliant on raw sugar imports as the country boosted its domestic production. Indian sugar mills are under pressure to export with huge supplies and a bumper crop expected in the new season that began in October. India is expected to overtake Brazil as the world's top sugar producer in 2007/08 and a lack of storage may force it to sell at lower prices later this year, the London-based International Sugar Organisation (ISO) said last month.