PM Modi with Chinese President-For-Life Xi Jinping. (Wang Zhou - Pool/Getty Images)According to a press release by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, India will start exporting raw sugar to China from early next year. With 32 MMT (Million Metric Tonnes) production in 2018 alone, India is the world’s largest sugar producer.
A first-of-its-kind contract has been signed between the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) and COFCO, a state-run Chinese company to export around 50,000 tonnes of raw sugar to China. The deal was spearheaded by the Commerce Ministry officials who conducted several meetings with their Chinese counterparts to materialise it. Raw sugar will become the second export item from India, after non-basmati rice.
This deal will be crucial to the Indian economy since India runs a massive trade deficit of around $60 billion with China, which is also its biggest trade partner. Exports from India like pharmaceuticals and agro-products have been artificially restricted by the Chinese authorities through opaque regulatory requirements.
However, all is not well on the Indian front too. It was reported recently that India’s sugar production this year will fall by more than 11 per cent due to frequent drought and pest attacks on the crop fields in the country.
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