Shree Renuka to start sugar exports from Haldia unit

India's top sugar refiner Shree Renuka Sugars will soon begin exporting white sugar from its Haldia unit on the east coast as strong demand during Ramadan and limited supplies in Asia amid a weak rupee made exports lucrative, a senior company official told Reuters on Thursday.

"Right now exports demand is very strong. Returns from exports are higher. So we will be shortly commencing exports from Haldia refinery," Narendra Murkumbi, managing director of Shree Renuka Sugars said in an interview.

The company has been exporting whites from its Kandla refinery on the west coast.

Shree Renuka is planning to refine 1.5 million tonnes of raw sugar in the year ending March 31, 2014, compared to about 1 million tonnes a year earlier, Murkumbi said.

During the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which starts this year on July 9, consumption of sugar rises because it is used to make traditional confectionaries eaten at night.

A fire at Saudi food company Savola Group's United Sugar Co in Jeddah in June has squeezed whites supplies in Asia, dealer said.

Traders have signed deals to export 75,000 tonnes of white sugar in July, reversing an import trend after the rupee's depreciation and with strong demand in Gulf and African states.