A Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) spokesman has called on the government to fix the minimum sugar support prices and made it clear that there has never been a shortage of sugar since the government has otherwise assumed.
The spokesman said a meeting between Chairman Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf and Citizens Rights Association President Nasir Ahmad took place to clarify about the availability of sugar in the country. Ashraf made it clear to Ahmad that there was a misunderstanding on the part of the government assuming that there was a shortage of essential food items, including sugar.
He said sugar mills were running at full capacity and that sugarcane farmers were getting good return on their crops and this year they expected surplus sugar and the question of shortage would never arise. He went on to say that consumers were having no problems and instead sugar mills were having their own with how to get rid of their stocks because they had been under pressure to pay growers. And that also because the sugar prices had fallen below the cost of production the government promised to keep at Rs 29.30 per kilogramme.
The spokesman said if there was no way to fix the sugar price then fixing of sugarcane price should also be done away with. He said in the present situation the sugar industry was losing heavily because of the fallen sugar prices and until the minimum sugar prices are not ensured by the Government the problem of cane payments will continue to arise, which cannot be resolved.-PR