Move on sugar export ban put off to Dec

The ban on sugar exports would now be lifted only in December, as the government does not seem to be convinced that sugar prices have declined significantly.

The Union Cabinet was supposed to take up the issue of lifting sugar export ban this week. However, no decision was taken in this regard.

The only observation that Finance Minister P Chidambaram made after the Cabinet meeting was related to sugar prices. He said, "there is a very mild moderation in the sugar prices".

At the Economic Editors' Conference on November 8, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had said, "the government would consider the issue of ban removal seriously over the next two weeks".

The prices of sugar in the spot market have fallen by an average of Rs 30 to Rs 50 a quintal over the week to Rs 1,700-1,750 a quintal. In the futures market too, sugar witnessed a depressing week.

At the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (Ncdex), the price of M-sugar for December delivery fell from Rs 1,779 a quintal on Monday to Rs 1,761 on Friday, while the same for January delivery fell from Rs 1,756 a quintal to Rs 1,739 during the same period.

The country is expected to produce about 230 lakh tonne sugar in the current season as against 191 lakh tonne in the last season. The annual consumption is 190 lakh tonne.

Meanwhile, the stocks of various sugar companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) continued to fall.

Last Friday, some of these stocks had closed at a three-month low. This Friday, they dipped even further.

The share prices of Bajaj Hindusthan fell from Rs 269.65 to Rs 268.50, Balrampur Chini from Rs 90.95 to Rs 87.60, Dhampur Sugar from Rs 95.05 to Rs 90.65, Bannari Amman from Rs 841.15 to Rs 830.10 and Sakthi Sugar from Rs 109.70 to Rs 108.10.