Sugar mills say exports not viable unless prices rise 10%

New Delhi: Sugar mills will be unable to sign any major export deals despite recent government incentives if prices do not rise about 10 percent to 14.4 cents per pound, a top industry official said.

A. Vellayan, president of the Indian Sugar Mills Association, said the struggle to sell sugar is weighing on the mills` ability to pay sugarcane farmers dues of about 150 billion rupees ($2.39 billion).

India decided in February to give mills a subsidy of 4,000 rupees ($64) a tonne for exports of up to 1.4 million tonnes in an effort to reduce stockpiles after five years of surplus output.

"The global prices are so low that raw sugar exports are not viable despite the incentives," Vellayan said.