Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), Punjab Zone, is holding general body meeting on Saturday. The meeting, besides discussing the crisis like situation in the industry, would finalise budget proposals for the federal government.
Chairman PSMA Punjab Zone Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf would chair the meeting, said a spokesman of the Association here on Friday. The sugar industry is suffering financial losses. Each sugar mill has lost in millions of rupees, aggravating with depressed market prices, the spokesman added.
It may be noted that the government had agreed to maintain Rs 31 per kg ex-factory price of sugar and gave assurance to the PSMA and thus the crushing season was going to be started amicably. But after the crushing season started on the assurances the government backed out of its commitment and released TCP's stocks twice in the middle of the crushing season at Rs 26 per kg and later at Rs 24 per kg.
The market sentiments were totally destroyed and the industry plunged into heavy financial crisis. The PSMA strongly believes that the industry started the crushing smoothly but the crises were created when government intervened by giving import subsidy to the TCP's imported sugar.
This huge subsidy pushed the industry into deep crisis. As the TCP imported sugar at Rs 38 to Rs 40 per kg price whereas industry's cost of producing sugar was equal to the imported price of sugar by TCP.
Dr Salman Shah, adviser to the Prime Minister on finance and chairman secretaries committee on sugar was set to meet the PSMA on May 9, but the meeting was postponed due to the visit of foreign dignitaries, the spokesman concluded.
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