India is considering selling sugar to Bangladesh

Under the government-to-government (G2G) agreement, India is considering exporting sugar to Bangladesh. In a letter dated 23 March 2022, Manoj Kumar Semwal, managing director (MD) of the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Limited (NCCF), submitted the request to the Bangladesh government. According to the letter, Bangladesh's Ministry of Commerce is procuring various vital commodities, such as sugar, lentils, and edible oil, to offer them at reduced prices during Ramadan. As a result, NCCF is willing to sell Indian-origin sugar to Bangladesh under the G2G supply contract; the organization has also included the G2G contract terms in the letter.

Under the previous G2G supply contract, the letter further stated that NCCF had successfully supplied Indian non-Basmati rice to the Directorate General of Food of Bangladesh's Ministry of Food in 2020-2021. The NCCF has extensive expertise in procuring, handling, and exporting food grains to Bangladesh, mainly wheat and non-Basmati rice. Bangladesh's yearly domestic demand for the sweet crystal substance is between 2.0M/mt and 2.2M/mt, with most imports. 0.3M/mt of sugar is required throughout Ramadan.

According to government data, about 0.11M/mt of sugar is needed per month. Generally, the government collects sugar to sell through the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh's truck selling program (TCB).