"Sweet Festive Relief!" Government Allows 10 Lakh Tonnes of Duty-Free Sugar Imports to Crash Record Sweetener Prices Before Diwali!

In a major emergency move to protect household budgets ahead of the grand festival season, the Central Government has officially allowed the duty-free import of up to 10 lakh metric tonnes (1 million MT) of raw sugar under the Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) scheme until October 31, 2026. Notified by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), this order allows domestic refiners to bring in massive raw sugar shipments without paying import taxes, marking India's first major sugar import in nearly a decade to bridge an urgent domestic supply shortfall. The government has also granted a one-time option for refiners to convert existing Advance Authorisation imports into this duty-free TRQ scheme to quickly boost local availability.

This decisive step comes after domestic sugar prices shot up by nearly 40% over the last two months. Due to lower starting stocks and tighter sugarcane output, wholesale mill rates reached record highs of ₹5,400 to ₹5,500 per quintal, while retail market prices climbed past ₹52 per kg. Because countrywide sugar demand peaks between August and November for major celebrations like Ganesh Chaturthi, Dussehra, and Diwali, the government stepped in to prevent artificial price hikes. Alongside zero-duty imports, strict stockholding limits have been slapped on commercial bulk users-such as big confectionery, beverage, and biscuit manufacturers using over 10 tonnes a month-capping their storage to just 15 days of consumption to stop hoarding.