Cabinet approves Rs 6,268 cr sugar export subsidy

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a sugar export subsidy for the 2019-20 (October-September) sugar season which would cost the government exchequer Rs 6,268 crore.

Speaking to reporters here after the cabinet meeting, Union Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, said that the CCEA has approved an export subsidy of Rs 10,448 per metric tonne (MT) and the subsidy would be directly credited to the farmer's account on behalf of the mills against cane price dues. Any subsequent balance would be credited to the mill's account.

The subsidy is in compliance with the World Trade Organization (WTO) norms, the government clarified.

"The lumpsum sugar subsidy will be provided on the expenses on marketing costs, including handling, upgrading and other processing costs, costs of international and internal transport and freight charges on export of up to 60 lakh metric tonne of sugar limited to Maximum Admissible Export Quantity (MAEQ) allocated to sugar mills for the sugar season 2019-20," an official statement said.

In the wake of surplus sugar production during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 sugar seasons, the ensuing sugar season of 2019-20 is expected to commence with an opening stock of 142 lakh MT.IANS