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Remove irritants in sugar import, says food ministry
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Monday, 17 August, 2009, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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The Committee of Secretaries (CoS), headed by cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar, has directed the food ministry to remove hurdles in sugar imports to curb the rising price of the sweetener that has crossed Rs 30 a kg in the wholesale market.
The CoS, in its meeting held on August 13 in Delhi, has decided that the irritants in import of sugar must be removed. The high level committee deliberated on the recent rise in sugar prices and asked the food ministry to intensify its efforts in raw sugar import, official sources said.
There are reports of delay in cargo-clearance of imported sugar and some other hurdles like slow down in the process of contracts.
Three public sector firms - MMTC, PEC and STC have contracted less than one lakh tonne of refined sugar since April, though they were asked to import 10 lakh tonnes at zero duty.
Last week in Lok Sabha, food and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said that the private sector which has so far contracted 29 lakh tonnes of raw sugar, has not been able to process it due to shortage of bagasse.
Further, India's sugar production has declined to 150 lakh tonnes in 2008-09 season (October-December) from 264 lakh tonnes in the previous season. The output is projected to increase only marginally to 160-170 lakh tonnes in the next season. The annual consumption of sugar is 225-230 lakh tonnes.
According to media reports, a high level delegation comprising officials from commerce and consumer affairs ministries and public sector firm STC are expected to soon visit Myanmar for negotiation on government-to-government import of pulses as well.
- Agencies
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