Sugar millers on Saturday announced that they would light up boilers of their units for sugar production from November 15. Sources told Business Recorder that sugarcane crushing season 2010-11 would by lighting up boilers of sugar processing units from November 15. However, proper crushing season would start at the end of November, they added.
They said that sugar production in the local sugar mills would remain in between 3.3 million tons and 3.6 million tons. The country would again face shortage of 0.6 million tons to 0.9 million tons during next year, they said. Only the government of Punjab had announced Rs 125 support price per 40 kilogram of sugarcane crop while Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are yet to announce support prices for crushing season 2010-11, they added.
Elaborating reasons of delay in starting crushing operation, which according to Sugarcane Factories Act 1950 should commence from October 1, they said the devastating floods had washed away thousands of acres of sugarcane crop, which not only hit sugarcane production target of 54.8 million tons, but also prevented the farmers from harvesting the crop due to huge floodwater in their farmlands.
Talking to Business Recorder, Iskander M Khan, Chairman of Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), said that the sugar millers would heat up boilers of processing units from November 15, but proper sugar production would start by the end of November.
He said sugar production, which was expected to increase from 3.2 million tons last year to 3.8 million tons this year, has been reduced to 3.3 million tons to 3.6 million tons due to raging flood in the country. It is difficult to estimate exact production due to huge floodwater in the farmlands, he added.
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