Government scraps export duty on sugar

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) under Ministry of Finance has scrapped export duty of 20% on raw and refined sugar to boost shipments. The removal of export duty will help to export excess sugar output in India for sugar season 2017-18. This will also prevent further price erosion of the domestic sugar prices.

Background

Sugar output is estimated to rise sharply to 29.5 million tonnes (MT) in 2017-18 marketing year (October-September) from 20.3 MT in the previous year. The domestic demand is 24-25 million tonnes annually. With domestic prices falling below cost of production, there was demand scrapping of export duty to liquidate surplus domestic stock. In February 2018, Government had doubled import duty on sugar to 100% and restricted sale by mills to keep a checking on falling prices.

Month: Current Affairs - March, 2018