Export of raw sugar from India to China willbegin early next year. A contract for exporting 15,000tonnes of raw sugar has been entered to by the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) and COFCO, a Government of China run public sector company.

This is due to the initiative taken by the Ministry of Commerce and several rounds of meetings held by officials of both countries the import of raw sugar has materialized now.

India plans to export 2 MT of raw sugar to China beginning from next year. Raw sugar is the second product after non-basmati rice that China will import from India. It is a move to reduce the USD 60 billion trade deficit that China has with India. India’s export to China in 2017-18 amounted to USD 33 billion while imports from China stood at USD 76.2 billion.

India is the largest producer of sugar in the world with 32 MMT production in 2018. India produces sugar of all three grades- raw, refined and white. Indian sugar is also of a high quality and is Dextran free because of the minimum time taken from cut to crush. India is in a position to become a regular and dependable exporter of high quality sugar in significant volumes to China.

Raw sugar exports to China follow an ISMA-COFCO contract, enabling regular Indian supply and bilateral trade rebalancing. Contractual arrangement to export raw sugar from India to China has been formalised between the Indian Sugar Mills Association and a Chinese state trading company, enabled by Ministry of Commerce-led bilateral engagement; the agreement covers an initial consignment and is part of a plan to scale regular exports to address bilateral trade imbalances, relying on India's production capacity, multi-grade output and product quality to ensure dependable supply.