India has enough sugar stocks to meet festival-season demand, with a record price rally driven by speculative buying rather than any real supply shortfall, the head of the country’s top sugar industry body said on Monday.
Sugar prices in India, the world’s biggest consumer of the sweetener, have jumped more than 40% in two months to a record high, prompting New Delhi to allow duty-free imports of 1 million metric tons of raw sugar for the first time in nearly a decade.
“Sugar stocks and supplies are more than comfortable, and there will be no problem at all in meeting higher festival demand,” Indian Sugar Mills Association president Niraj Shirgaokar said.
