India’s Not So Sweet WTO Sugar Story

On December 16, 2020, the Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a subsidy of Rs.35 billion to sugar mills for the export of 60 lakh tonnes of sugar during the October 2020-September 2021 season. In 2018 and 2019, the Government of India had approved the sugar export incentive before October 1, but this year the approval was delayed. Sugar mills will now export their surplus sugar stock. This is supposed to help sugar mills clear their outstanding dues to sugarcane farmers.
India is the world’s second-largest sugar producer (after Brazil) and among the top five sugar exporters. According to official data,…