Sugar Export Ban 2026 : There are two words that have spooked Indian policymakers of late with regard to agriculture: Iran and El Niño. These also explain the thinking behind the government’s decision to ban exports of sugar , notwithstanding the reasonably comfortable domestic availability of the sweetener for now.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), on May 13, issued a notification placing exports of all raw, white and refined sugar in the “prohibited” category “with immediate effect till September 30, 2026”.

In other words, no sugar – barring the 14,500-odd tonnes under preferential quotas at concessional duties to the European Union and United States – can go out of the country in the remaining part of the 2025-26 crushing year (October-September).

Supply situation

Indian mills are expected to produce 279 lakh tonnes (lt) of sugar in 2025-26.…