India has imported 16.18 lakh tonnes of sugar so far this season to augment domestic supplies and check price rise.
"According to reports received from the Department of Revenue, 11.69 lakh tonnes of raw sugar and 4.49 lakh tonnes of white sugar has been imported up to February 14 in 2009-10 sugar season," Minister of State for Agriculture K V Thomas said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha today.
Sugar season runs from October to September.
Total sugar imports stood at 10.97 lakh tonnes in the 2008-09 season, he said, sharing the data of Kolkata-based Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics. India is the world's largest consumer of the sweetener.
In 2009-10 season, Thomas said the country's sugar output is estimated at about 160 lakh tonnes against an annual demand of 230 lakh tonnes.
"With opening sugar stocks of about 25 lakh tonnes as on October 1, 2009, and estimated production of 160 lakh tonnes during the 2009-10 season, the availability of sugar from the domestic sources is put at about 185 lakh tonnes," he said.
The minister said that the government has allowed import of raw and white sugar at zero duty till December 2010 to bridge the gap between the estimated demand and the availability from domestic sources.
On rising sugar prices, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in a separate reply said, "The prices have increased due to interplay of market sentiments and demand-production gap. They have also decreased responding to the measures taken by the government to augment domestic availability of sugar."
He noted that sugar rates are showing a declining trend as on February 19 as compared to prices in the previous month.
Ex-mill rates of S-30 grade sugar in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have declined in just on month in the range of Rs 340-390 per quintal to Rs 3,280 and Rs 3,600 per quintal, respectively, he said.
Similarly, the retail sugar price in Delhi has dipped by Rs 4 to Rs 43 a kg in the review period, Pawar added.
