Alleged sugar smuggling to Afghanistan: Dubai-based supplier expresses concern

A Dubai-based sugar supplier, Wellington Marketing FZE, has expressed concern over alleged sugar smuggling to Afghanistan from Pakistan at a price well below the international price. The firm has been a regular sugar importer and distributor in the Afghanistan market for the last many years.
"We export 200,000 metric tonnes of sugar to Afghanistan through Pakistan transit route. We are suffering because of unusually low sugar prices in Pakistan fixed by the government," the firm was quoted as saying in a letter to the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA).
The letter has been written at a time when the provincial governments are struggling to sell sugar at Rs 40 per kilogram in the light of the Supreme Court's decision to retail it at Rs 40 per kilogram. At present, sugar is being sold in Pakistan from Rs 52-53 per kilogram.
"We understand that the Pakistan government is asking sugar stockists to sell sugar at Rs 40 per kilogram, which, we believe, is inclusive of prevalent local taxes in Pakistan, which translates into 488 dollars per metric tonne. Such ridiculous prices are absolutely beyond any logic. The world's prevai1ing price of sugar today is 600 per metric tonne CNF Karachi without any expenses or taxes.
"Pakistan's recent import by the public sector agency, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan, is a clear reflection of world sugar prices," the Dubai-based firm stated. Wellington Marketing FZE is also planning to take up the matter with the Afghan authorities because of huge financial losses as sugar is being smuggled from Pakistan to Afghanistan.
"We would like to bring the issue to your notice before presenting it to the Afghan Ministry of Trade and relevant chamber of commerce," said one of the top officials of the firm Teymur Firouzi in a letter addressed to PSMA Chairman Iskander Khan. "Pakistan may be free to fix prices at any level she wants for her own reasons, but unfortunately such low level of prices are encouraging smugglers to smuggle Pakistani sugar across the border in Afghanistan.
"This smuggling has plunged the sugar market of Afghanistan from 750 dollars per metric tonne a few weeks ago to current levels of lower than 600 dollars per metric tonne. This huge drop in sugar price is only because people are selling Pakistani sugar in Afghanistan at very low prices," the firm stated. The company is of the view that the businessmen like them, who import sugar for Afghanistan at world sugar prices, pay huge sums towards freight/transportation expenses in Pakistan and taxes in Afghanistan are suffering heavily.
"The continuation of Pakistan 's low level prices will put people like us out of business in Afghanistan and will ultimately create serious sugar crisis in Afghanistan as well as in Pakistan," Teymur Firouzi added. Wellington Marketing FZE asked Pakistan sugar industry to either put a stop to smuggling of cheap Pakistani sugar to Afghanistan, which the PSMA might not be able to do given the border environment or bolster price level to international level, which appeared to be right and logical option, Firouzi concluded.