Southern Punjab, Sindh: Sugarcane crushing season to begin on 15th: mill owners

LAHORE: Following assurance of the Prime Minister of no more coercive measures and resolving the issues faced by the sugar industry, millers have announced to start crushing season in Southern Punjab and Sindh from November 15, and in Central Punjab from November 20.

Likewise, sugar mills in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will also start functioning for the crushing season 2021-22 from November 15 to November 20.

“Though it is considered opinion of the millers that starting crushing season before November 30 causes a significant dent on sugar production; we are launching operations across country from November 15 in the larger interest of the masses,” said Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) Chairman Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf while addressing a press conference here on Friday.

PSMA Punjab Chairman Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam, Sindh Zone Chairman Zaid Zakriya, KPK Chairman Rizwan Ullah Khan, Javed Kayani and other millers were also present on this occasion while many others joined through video link.

Zaka said it is estimated that sugar production during the current crushing season would remain around 6.5 million tons while our domestic need is 6 million tons. However, he said that starting early crushing may change these estimates later on.

Sugarcane crushing season will begin on 15th

He claimed Prime Minister Imran Khan and PM Advisor on Finance Shaukat Tarin in separate meetings assured that surplus sugar would be bought by the government to create a strategic reserve. These reserves will be offloaded in the market to ease any tense situation in future, however, if the industry produces more than 6.5 million tons then the production over and above this figure would be allowed to export without any subsidy, he added.

The PSMA chairman said the government and the industry would collectively work during the next year to keep the prices stable. Replying to repeated questions, he said prices would be fixed at a level where industry can recover its cost of production and it should also not be a burden on the masses.

Giving details of his meetings with the premier and other government high-ups, he said the PM assured him that the government of Pakistan would promote free economy of sugar business in the country.

He said the premier has constituted a high-level committee under the chair of Finance Advisor Shaukat Tarin which includes three federal ministers, federal secretaries, and provincial chief secretaries. Zaka Ashraf said the finance advisor also assured that the prices fixed by the governments of Punjab and Sindh shall also remain as national prices. The government itself will not indulge in setting the prices of sugarcane and sugar. The government will leave the pricing to be decided by the free market mechanism but the government shall maintain strategic reserve stocks and intervene in the market at appropriate time to supplement the market and to keep the prices at a reasonable level. If surplus sugar is produced, then the government will purchase that sugar and later also allow mills to export the surplus sugar.

Shaukat Tarin also assured that he will persuade banks for arranging the working capital for the sugar mills so that the mills can timely pay to the farmers. He also urged the millers to pay farmers within 15 to 20 days of the start of crushing season.

Zaka Ashraf said the finance advisor also assured that the sugar industry’s problems related to the Competition Commission of Pakistan and the FBR will be resolved on priority basis. Tarin has also asked the federal and provincial secretaries to resolve the issues of sugar industry, especially matters related to arrests, registering of FIRs and conducting raids on the sugar mills.

The PSMA chairman said that the advisor has also assured that he would regularly conduct meetings with the sugar industry officials to resolve their problems.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021