By Rajendra Jadhav
PUNE, India (Reuters) - Indian sugar mills have contracted to export 50,000 tonnes of white sugar to Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan at $340-$345 a tonne, free on board, trade sources said, the first major deal in the past few months.
The cargoes are for July shipment, they said.
India, the world's biggest sugar consumer, has signed the export deal due to a sharp fall in local prices. After a sustained drop in the past 10 days, local ex-mill sugar prices have now fallen to 19,200 rupees a tonne, pushing mills to take export orders.
After five straight years of surplus production, India is swamped with sugar. As a result, prices have crashed and many mills are struggling with big debts.
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Sugar stocks are now expected to touch 10.3 million tonnes on Oct. 1, when the new 2015/16 season starts, up 37 percent from the previous year.
This year's output is expected to reach 28.5 million tonnes, nearly 4.5 million tonnes more than consumption.
(Editing by Mayank Bhardwaj and Jane Merriman)
