India's perpetual sugar glut needs ethanol and export support

Households have reduced spending on the food item for two decades now, but its production keeps increasing

There is a supply crunch for it this season but sugar will be among the food commodities that will be in surplus in the country until 2047-48, as per recent projections.

The projections, made in a report by a working group of the NITI Aayog, said that sugar supply overtook demand by 3 million tonnes in 2011-12 and will continue at that level till 2035-36. By 2047-48, sugar and related products' supplies will outstrip demand by nearly 6 million tonnes.

The NITI Aayog's assumptions are based on a 'Business as Usual' scenario where overall food demand grows at an annual