Sugar export deferred, mills asked to share stock details

By Shahzad Paracha

ISLAMABAD: The Sugar Advisory Board (SAB) has postponed the decision to export 250,000 metric tons of sugar until next Thursday and asked the sugar mills to provide details of their available stock.

The SAB meeting, chaired by Caretaker Industries and Production Minister Dr Gohar Ijaz, was held on Tuesday to consider the request of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) to export surplus sugar.

The PSMA had claimed that it had 1.13 million metric tons of sugar in stock, while the country’s annual requirement was around 0.7 million metric tons.

Sources said that the caretaker minister directed the PSMA to share the sugar stock details by the next meeting, scheduled for Thursday.

The meeting also approved the Minimum Purchase Price (MPP) for sugarcane at Rs425 per 40 kg for Sindh and Rs400 per 40 kg for Punjab for the crushing season 2023-24.

Consumer concerns rise as Utility Stores increase sugar prices

The meeting was informed that the sugar crushing season in Sindh had already started and it would commence in Punjab on November 25.

The previous Pakistan Democratic Movement government had allowed the export of 250,000 metric tons of sugar in December 2022, with the condition that the price of sugar would not increase beyond Rs100 per kg in the local market. However, the price of sugar had surged to all-time high in the local market.

Earlier this year, sugar prices had reached an all-time high of Rs200 per kg, following the export of sugar. There were also rumours of a sugar shortage in the country, and a lobby was pushing for the import of sugar. However, the decision to import sugar was later shelved.