Reply to Prerna Sharma's post on Dealing with India's Sugar mess

Prerna Sharma's post

 Dear Prerna,

 Thank you for sharing your wonderful article on Sugar. I must say Indian Sugar is no more in the sweet spot. I would like to bring the following points to your consideration.

1. Poor consumer is suffering not from non consumption of sugar or deficiency of sugar, but from deficiency of healthy nutrients like vitamins, minerals and proteins. So if Dals (pulses) prices are allowed to drop and sugar price is allowed to increase, it is a good trade off from nutrition point of view.
2. This points to a situation that we should stop imported pulses by forgoing export of sugar or perhaps resort to small imports of sugar. That means use the land vacated by growing sugarcane to grow pulses. When the situation starts changing, the shake up it would bring in the domestic regulatory climate and processing efficiency would mean a more self standing sector. Today, the sugar sector looks like a drag, standing on the crutches of subsidies, inefficiencies, government policies and the price of wrath of international community.
3. To make the transition smoother, we should build a safety stock net while farmers are eased to other crops like pulses. Huge stocks would insulate us from the shocks of change in the supply infrastructure. By bringing efficiency, the supply side actually may get more strengthened and consolidation in the industry backed by changed regulation, may spring a surprise in actually further growth in production.
4. Moving away from high water consuming sugar crop to low water consuming pulses crop would serve the country well in meeting its obligations to other crops and industrial and residential sector for potable water.
5. Any change which is gradual is always desirable. This slow change would help us to modernise the milling sector to focus on economies of scale to compete with Brazil in Brazil without depreciating Indian currency. That resilience would mean we wouldn't have to further depreciate our currency. If each sector performs the way sugar industry is performing, Rupee would inevitably depreciate to bring in competitiveness in the international markets. But that is not the point. Point is about making tough choices. Selling sugar in the international market at throw away prices currently wouldn't make sense. It'd be better to reduce the production or build the stocks for the rainy day.
6. There are cane sugar substitutes like honey and stevia which aren't getting enough traction because of low sugar prices. Some hardening of prices would develop the healthier sources of consuming carbohydrates. I have been enjoying my morning tea without sugar since last ten years, now I can't stand a crystal of sugar in it. And I am not a diabetic. And the human body doesn't need sugar at all. And there is too much of carbohydrate already in Indian diet. It is time to change our diets and the low sugar prices aren't letting us do that. Lets change the situation and remove the unfair support sugar prices are getting, farmers would love it as the prices would go up. Industrialists would love it finally when the dust settles after the consolidation. Consumers' bodies wouldn't mind, if they are fed lesser sugar because prices are no more sweet. Government would love it as it would give out less subsidy and it would save on foreign exchange spent on buying pulses. If we withdraw slightly from the world markets of pulses, pulses markets would crash too, thereby further savings for pulses importing countries like India.