Sugar mill owners rejoice as Centre lifts ban on export of alcohol-based hand sanitisers

PeeSafe | Headcount : 150 | Headquarters: Gurugram | Year founded: 2017 | According to LinkedIn, the company has seen a spike in online sales since March, which offset a drop in footfall at physical stores. It rolled out products such as hand sanitisers, surface protectants and face masks amid the pandemic.(Representational Image: pexels.com)

In a move that will prove beneficial for the beleaguered domestic sugar industry, the Centre has allowed export of alcohol-based hand sanitisers that are in high demand globally due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Export of hand sanitisers was banned by a central order passed on May 6 to make sure that there is no shortage of the product in the domestic market. This decree, however, did not suspend the export of non-alcohol-based sanitisers.

Reverting the previous order, Amit Yadav, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), on June 1, allowed with immediate effect the export of alcohol-based hand sanitisers “in any other form/packaging” apart from containers with dispenser pumps.

The move comes days after some of the biggest private sugar millers in the country had petitioned the Centre asking it to allow the export of alcohol-based sanitiser considering robust installed capacities and abundant production to serve the domestic market.

This will greatly benefit Indian sugar mills, which had taken to bulk production of alcohol-based hand rubs after the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of the pandemic hit sugar demand in the country, Business Standard reported. The sugar mills are reportedly looking to continue producing sanitisers to expend the available stock of ethanol alcohol with them.

Welcoming the move, Deepak Guptara, Secretary, UP Sugar Mills Association (UPSMA), said: “There is a high demand for hand sanitisers in the Indian subcontinent and our immediate markets, such as Sri Lanka. Besides, hand sanitisers manufactured by mills is 80 percent pure, whereas the World Health Organisation (WHO) norms mandate purity of 65 percent at least.”

Notably, the Uttar Pradesh-based sugar mills have already collectively produced as much as nine million litres of the hand rub. More than 80 units are commercially manufacturing hand sanitisers now, taking UP’s manufacturing capacity to nearly 5,30,000 litres per day at present.

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