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Sugar output may exceed demand for 3 yrs: Thomas

Sugar output in India, the world’s biggest consumer, will likely exceed the annual consumption of 22 million tonne at least until the marketing year through September 2016, food ministry KV Thomas said on Friday.

Sugar output in India, the world’s biggest consumer, will likely exceed the annual consumption of 22 million tonne at least until the marketing year through September 2016, food ministry KV Thomas said on Friday.

Sugar production has hit 24 million tonne so far in the current year, and is forecast to touch 24.6 million tonne compared with 26.3 million tonne in 2011-12.

“Our assessment is that 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 will be comfortable for India as far as the sugar sector is concerned,” Thomas told reporters. The assessment on production was done at a recent discussion with agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on ways to revive the sugar sector in the coming years, he added. Thomas said his ministry, in consultation with the farm ministry, has prepared a paper on reviving the sugar industry, which will be discussed with key stakeholders.

FCRA Bill may soon get Parliament nod

Thomas said he expects the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Amendment Bill to be approved in the current session of Parliament through May 10 although the Opposition has stalled proceedings frequently over a range of issues, including the coal scam.

The Bill is crucial to bringing in much-needed reforms to the commodity futures market as the annual trading value at commodity exchanges dropped for the first time in 2012-13 since futures trading was introduced around a decade earlier.

“We are waiting for Parliament to come to normal functioning. We are hopeful of passage of the FCRA Bill in the current session. There are crucial bills to be passed in Parliament,” Thomas said.

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First published on: 27-04-2013 at 03:59 IST
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