India considers exporting sugar to Bangladesh under the government-to-government (G2G) arrangement.
Manoj Kumar Semwal, managing director (MD) of the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Limited (NCCF), made the request to the Bangladesh government in a letter issued on March 23.
The Ministry of Commerce of Bangladesh is procuring various essential commodities, including sugar, lentils and edible oil, in a bid to sell those at subsidised prices in the upcoming month of Ramadan, according to the letter.
Therefore, NCCF is willing to export Indian origin Sugar to Bangladesh under the G2G supply contract - the organisation has also mentioned in the letter the terms of contract under the G2G deal.
The letter also mentioned that NCCF had successfully supplied the Indian non-Basmati rice to the Directorate General of Food of the food ministry of Bangladesh in the year 2020-2021 under the previous G2G supply contract.
Confirming the receipt of the letter, a commerce ministry official said, "We have recently received the letter. We are working on it."
The NCCF has a vast experience in procurement, handling and export of food grains, including wheat and non-Basmati rice, to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh's annual local demand for the sweet crystal substance is about 2.0 to 2.2 million tonnes - the bulk of which comes through import.
During Ramadan, some 0.3 million tonnes of sugar are required.
On average, over 0.11 million tonnes of sugar are required per month, according to the official data.
Generally, the government collects sugar to sell through its truck sale programme operated by the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
