The Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), Punjab Zone, has called an emergency meeting of its members on Monday, March 26, 2007, to discuss the problems confronting the sugar industry due to 33 percent increase in sugarcane support price, low sucrose recovery, low sugar price and frost, white fly attack and 33 percent increase in wages.
A spokesman of PSMA Punjab Zone said here on Sunday that sugar industry crisis was multiplying with every passing day due to decrease in sugar content and increase in sugarcane prices.
He said that it was quite astonishing that the government itself had worked out the cost of production at Rs 31 per kg as ex-mill price and, on the other hand, issued a tender without any rhyme and reason, due to which, the ex-mill price is below Rs 28 per kg. He said that in a situation where market prices were already over-depressed, issuance of tender by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan was adding fuel to the fire and an intent to push the industry to complete collapse. "Such wrongly planned decisions," he said, "are detrimental to the survival of sugar industry, which could make the industry unviable and it would not be able to recover the cane cost to pay to the sugarcane growers."