Did you know that the high price of your favorite festival sweets is actually connected to the petrol you put in your car? It might sound strange, but it is true.
For the first time in ten years, India—which is normally one of the biggest sugar makers in the world—has been forced to buy raw sugar from other countries. The government even removed the import tax on 1 million tons of sugar to bring more of it into the country. Let’s look at why this is happening.
Why is Sugar in Short Supply?
Right now, as festival season approaches, people are buying more sugar. But there simply isn’t enough of it to go around, and prices have shot up to as high as ₹65 per kilogram in some places. This shortage is happening for two main reasons:
1. Bad Weather and Sick Crops
Changes in global weather patterns, like El Niño, have made farming difficult this year. On top of that, a plant disease called “red rot” has damaged a lot of sugarcane. Because of this, India’s sugar production is expected to drop from over 34 million tons to just about 30.6 million tons.
2. Making Fuel Instead of Food
While the weather played a role, the biggest reason for the sugar shortage is India’s new fuel goals. The government is pushing a policy called E20, which means mixing 20% ethanol into regular petrol to make it more eco-friendly.
Where does this ethanol come from? A lot of it is made from sugarcane juice. Currently, massive amounts of sugarcane are being sent to factories to make fuel instead of sugar. In fact, an amount of sugarcane that could have made 3 million tons of sugar was used for ethanol instead.
The Math Doesn’t Add Up
When you take the reduced harvest (about 30.6 million tons) and subtract the amount used for petrol (about 3 million tons), India is left with roughly 27 million tons of sugar.
The problem is that Indians eat about 28 to 28.5 million tons of sugar every year. Plus, the country likes to keep a backup stock of 6 million tons for emergencies. We simply do not have enough sugarcane to meet everyone’s needs.
What is the Government Doing?
To bring prices down and make sure there is enough sugar for the festivals, the government has stepped in. They have:
Stopped selling Indian sugar to other countries.
Removed taxes on imported sugar to bring more in.
Stopped traders from hoarding sugar in warehouses.
Started looking at ways to make ethanol from other grains like corn or rice, rather than just sugarcane.
The Big Challenge: Food vs. Fuel
This sugar shortage highlights a very big problem for the future: How does a country balance making green fuel with keeping food affordable?
Using ethanol is great because it reduces pollution and helps India save money by buying less crude oil from other countries. However, if making this fuel causes basic food prices to skyrocket, it hurts the common man.
Going forward, India will need to find a smart balance. This might mean inventing stronger sugarcane plants that can survive bad weather, or making sure we use a variety of different crops to make our fuel so that our food supply is never put at risk.