India has announced it is restricting its sugar exports to ensure domestic availability and keep prices stable, in a move that comes days after a ban on wheat shipments sent global prices soaring in the wake of the Ukraine war.

The world’s largest sugar producer and number two exporter after Brazil said on Tuesday that shipments would be limited to 10 million tons for the current marketing year to September. The export curbs are India's first in six years.

The decision was taken "with a view to maintain the domestic availability and price stability during the sugar season," the food ministry said in a statement.

Benchmark white sugar prices in London jumped more than 1% after India's decision.

Sugar exports are forecast to hit a record high this marketing year, with contracts signed for around nine million tons and 7.8 million tons already shipped, it said.

Although India is a marginal player in the global market, the move sparked a further surge in already-soaring global food prices since Russia’s February invasion of agricultural powerhouse Ukraine, which previously accounted for 12% of global exports.

The decision also stoked fears of growing protectionism in the wake of the conflict.

Sugar prices have remained relatively stable but the retail inflation rate surged to an eight-year high of 7.8% in April. The government has announced tax cuts on petrol, diesel and coking coal to try to curb inflationary pressures.

"The government is worried about food inflation, and that's why it is trying to ensure that enough sugar remains in the country to cater to the festival season," said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.

Sugar consumption tends to shoot up during India's major festival season from September to November.

Exporters also said the decision to allow mills to export 10 million tons would help India sell a reasonably big quantity of sugar on the world market.

Initially, India planned to cap sugar exports at 8 million tons, but the government later decided to allow mills to sell some more sugar on the world market as production estimates were revised upwards.

The Indian Sugar Mills Association, a producers' body, revised its output forecast to 35.5 million tons, up from its previous estimate of 31 million tons.

Indian mills have so far signed contracts to export 9.1 million tons of sugar in the current 2021/2022 marketing year without government subsidies. Out of the contracted 9 million tons, mills have already dispatched around 8.2 million tons of the sweetener.

India exported a record 7 million metric tons in the 2021-22 financial year, which ended in March. That was up from 620,000 tons in 2017 to 2018.

The export ban also left hundreds of thousands of tons of wheat stranded at a major port in western India, with long lines of thousands of trucks waiting to unload.

Earlier this month, India announced that it would export wheat to food-deficit countries only through government channels, citing inflation and its own food security needs.

It is allowing private companies to meet previous commitments to export nearly 4.3 million tons of wheat through July. India exported 1 million tons of wheat in April.

A key aim of restrictions on exports is to control rising domestic prices. Global wheat prices have risen by more than 40% since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, India’s own wheat harvest was hit by a record-shattering heat wave that has stunted production.

Before the war, Ukraine and Russia accounted for a third of global wheat and barley exports. Since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, Ukraine’s ports have been blocked and civilian infrastructure and grain silos have been destroyed.

Elsewhere in Asia, Indonesia temporarily halted palm oil exports and Malaysia banned chicken exports.