Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) said on Saturday it had purchased 50,000 tonnes of white sugar at $473 a tonne C&F Karachi. TCP Chairman Mohammad Asif Zaman Ansari said the corporation had bought the sugar from Indian Sugar Exim Co Ltd of India.
"We got three bids against our tender. The Indian firm offered the lowest price of $473.85 per tonne, but we were able to bring it further down after negotiations," Ansari told newsmen.
"The company would supply the sugar within the next five to seven weeks, with the option of further increasing the quantity to 100,000 tonnes," he said.
Last month the TCP bought 50,0000 tonnes of Indian white sugar at $478 per tonne from a private Indian sugar refinery - the first purchase by the government from India in more than five years. Before February's purchase, the TCP had last bought Indian sugar in September 2000.
The TCP has been regularly buying sugar from the international market after a government estimate that the country would need to import at least 800,000 tonnes of sugar in 2006 to meet domestic demand.
Ansari said the Indian firm had not yet committed the additional quantity.
"But I am hopeful that they will supply the additional 50,000 tonnes as well," he said.
Pakistan's sugar output is expected to decline to between 2.8 million and 3.0 million tonnes in the production year that began in November, from 3.2 million in the previous year. Pakistan's annual consumption is 3.8 million tonnes.