DECEMBER, 202519INDUSTRY OPINIONHow are shifting global sugar prices and trade policies influencing India's export competitiveness in 2025?India has not historically been a structurally surplus sugar-producing country, and thus it has never been a player in global sugar exports. Over the past few years, India has emerged as a large swing factor in the global sugar market. A few years ago, India had developed significant sugar stocks and the government granted export subsidies and allowed excess sugar to be exported. After that, the production rebounded, and India's sugar market is now structurally surplus. From a policy perspective, domestic market remains the foremost priority for the government. Ethanol production is the second primary key area and has become a major game changer in recent years. Thus, ethanol diversion is now the second most important after domestic supply.Exports are the least prioritized and are only looked at after fulfilling domestic consumption and ethanol diversion targets. Last year, the government earmarked roughly one million tons of sugar for export, and around 0.7 million tons were actually shipped. However, in the context of the international market, export parity for Indian sugar does not favorably stand.For mills located in Karnataka and Maharashtra, exports may still be marginally viable. For mills located in Uttar Pradesh, shipping sugar from northern India to port cities incurs high logistics costs that offset the value of trade, making the feasibility of exports very low. Thus, feasible exports are not an issue at the moment for Indian policymakers or the domestic sugar industry.What are the latest technological innovations transforming sugar processing and refining efficiency worldwide?The sugar sector has been actively utilizing technological and process advances to improve efficiency and sustainability. A significant advancement in several key aspects of production has emerged. The scraping and shredding processes have helped extract cane juice more effectively. Enzymatic clarification is also under investigation along with membrane-based micro-filtration. These innovations contribute to enhanced process efficiencies and the product quality.GLOBAL SUGAR MARKET TRENDS: WHAT INDIAN MANUFACTURERS MUST KNOWAtul Chaturvedi, Executive Chairman, Shree Renuka SugarsAtul Chaturvedi, Executive Chairman, Shree Renuka Sugars, in a conversation with India Manufacturing Review, shared his views on how shifting global sugar prices and trade policies are influencing India's export competitiveness, the latest technological innovations that are transforming sugar processing, how India's ethanol blending programs and green energy initiatives can align with global decarburization trends and more.Atul Chaturvedi, Executive Chairman
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