Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra on Tuesday said there is no proposal to ban sugar exports to boost domestic supply and that the government is considering industry's demand to increase minimum selling price of sugar. The secretary said sugar prices have remained stable and rates are unlikely to jump going forward because of sufficient domestic supply.
He also informed that a committee of government officials has been set up to consider ways to utilise the surplus manufacturing capacity of ethanol, including an increase in the blending of ethanol with petrol from the current 20 per cent. Chopra said there is no proposal to reduce import duties on edible oils.
The secretary said wheat crops, being currently harvested, are good this year and the government may relax quality norms for procurement of foodgrain in view of recent rains. “As of now, there is no proposal to ban sugar exports,” Chopra said on the sidelines conference “ISMA SugarNXT 2026” here when asked about reports of possibility of ban to boost domestic supply.
He said the global prices have firmed up because of the West Asia conflict, improving chances of exports from India. Still, Chopra said it would be “challenging” for mills to export the 15 lakh tonne quota approved by the food ministry for the current 2025-26 sugar marketing year (October-September).
The secretary said the closing stock of sugar would be high if the exports are less than the approved quantities and this will provide a flexibility for higher diversion of sugar for ethanol making in the next marketing year. Regarding industry's demand to raise minimum selling price (MSP) of sugar from Rs 31 per kg, he said the food ministry is considering the proposal.
On demand to increase ethanol blending in view of current West Asia crisis and rise in crude oil prices, Chopra said, “There is a demand from industry to increase the blending of ethanol into petrol from the current 20 per cent. We have a surplus capacity of ethanol manufacturing at 2,000 crore litre. A committee has been set up to look into how to utilise this additional capacity. We may get some news before the next ethanol supply year,” the secretary said.
Chopra said there are several options including increase in ethanol blending and promotion of flex fuel vehicles. The officials from food, petroleum and heavy industries are part of this panel, he added.
He also highlighted that ethanol blending programme has resulted in saving of a whopping Rs 1.75 lakh crore foreign exchange since 2014.
Chopra said prices of sugar have remained stable. “I don't see any kind of jump or spike in prices.” On cane arrears, he said the situation is under control and hoped that payment of farmers should not be a challenge for mills because of cash liquidity from exports and ethanol blending programme. "I don't think sugarcane arrears will pose us a problem," he said.
On sugar production estimates, Chopra said it should be around 320-325 lakh tonne before diversion of ethanol for the current 2025-26 marketing year, ending September. Industry is expecting a diversion of 35 lakh tonne of sugar for ethanol making.
Earlier, addressing the conference, the secretary stressed on taking help of modern technologies to improve efficiencies in the sugar sector, boost sugarcane yield and also increase recovery of sugar from sugarcane.
Also read: Raise minimum selling price, say co-op sugar mills as output up
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