# The great Indian sugar trap: how a decade of surplus left India with nothing to spare

An episode of [Daybreak](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1658118308), 27 Aug 2026, 12 min.

Audio: https://media.transistor.fm/83997e95/8e3cd961.mp3

India is importing sugar for the first time in nearly a decade — a million tonnes, duty-free — to cool prices before the festive season. Four years ago, it exported a record 11 million tonnes. Retail prices are up around 40% from last year. In Odisha, a kilo crossed ₹67. The government has capped stocks, halted exports and ordered mills to declare their sales. Production came in about 11% below forecast, at 30.6 million tonnes. The world's second-largest sugar producer just became an importer. How? Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

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