How are India's sugar exports to the rest of the world increasing?

India’s sugar export success story
Sugar exports in India have increased from $810.9 million in 2017-18 to $4.6 billion in 2021-22, and could reach $5.5 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31.
The increase in quantity is also significant, with India’s shipments increasing from 0.46 lakh tonnes in 2016-17 to 110 lakh tonnes in 2021-22.
India has risen from a minor player in sugar exports five years ago to second in the world today, trailing only Brazil.

Indonesia (16.73 lt), Bangladesh (12.10 lt), Saudi Arabia (6.83 lt), Iraq (4.78 lt), and Malaysia were the top importers of Indian raw sugar (4.15 lt).
In addition, the country exported 53.71 lt of white/refined sugar, with the top destinations being Afghanistan (7.54 lt), Somalia (5.17 lt), Djibouti (4.90 lt), Sri Lanka (4.27 lt), China (2.58 lt), and Sudan (1.08 lt).
The European Union has seen the greatest drop in exports (as opposed to India and Brazil, which only crush cane): from 39.74 lt in 2017-18 to 8.02 lt in 2021-22.

After the first crystallisation of juice obtained from cane crushing, mills produce raw sugar.
This sugar has an ICUMSA value of 600-1,200 or higher and is rough and brownish in colour.
ICUMSA is a color-based measure of sugar purity.
This raw sugar is refined in order to remove impurities and de-colorize it.
The finished product is refined white cane sugar with an ICUMSA value of 45.
Until 2017-18, India primarily shipped plantation white sugar with 100-150 ICUMSA value, also known in international markets as low-quality whites or LQW.

Unlike Brazilian raw sugar, Indian raw sugar is dextran-free.
Indian mills can supply raws with polarisations ranging from 98.5 to 99.5%, which is higher than that of raws from Brazil, Thailand, and Australia.
Indian raws are currently trading at a 4% premium to the global benchmark (New York No. 11 futures contract), while LQW is trading at a $40/tonne discount to the global price (London No. 5 futures) for 45 ICUMSA whites.
Indonesia agreed to change its rules in December 2019 to allow imports from India, bolstering India’s efforts to increase raw material exports.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-economics/india-sugar-export-surge-economics-explained-8507027/