The sugar mills of Peshawar are running under capacity, as the growers are hesitant to supply sugarcane amid controversy over the price of commodity with sugar millers. Talking to Business Recorder, Talih Mand Khan, an official of Khazana Sugar Mills (KSM), Peshawar confirmed that the mill is running under capacity due to the lower supply of sugarcane.
He said that due to unavailability of sufficient supply the mills on Thursday stopped operation. He said that despite of lull in the production of Ghur the growers were still reluctant in supply their crop to the mills. He said that due to the sealing of the border with Afghanistan, the business of the Ghur manufacturing has not got momentum.
He was optimistic that the supply of sugarcane to mills will be improved with the passage of time, but at the same time he also expressed the fear that the lack of supply of sugarcane for the second consecutive year will result in the closure of the mills.
This scribe also contacted Premier Sugar Mills (PSM) Mardan, where an official, Rafaqat Ali Amjad confirmed that like KSM, their mill was also running under capacity. He said that the position of sugarcane supply is sufficient for full-scale operation of the crushing.
When asked about the reasons, behind the hesitance of the growers from supply the crop, he said that they are still eyeing improvement in the price. Furthermore, he said that the Ghur Ghanis are running parallel business in the area. However, he said that Ghur Ghanis this year are not offering good price as compared to last several years.
He said that so far only small farmers are supplying their crop to the mills with the purpose of vacating the farms to sow wheat. However, the case of sugarcane supply to the sugar mills in D I Khan has got momentum and they are facing no shortage of the commodity and the mills are operating in full capacity.
On the contact of this scribe, Aamir Khan, an official of Chashma Sugar Mills, D I Khan said that crushing season is in full swing in the district and supply of the commodity is also up to the mark. Furthermore, he said that the mills of the area have issue relating to the price of the commodity. He said that all four sugar mills of the area are operating in full capacity.
The provincial government has announced a price of Rs 150 for 40-kilogram sugarcane in the province while the growers are demanding more than Rs 400 for the commodity of the same weight. It has a worth to mention here that no crushing season was observed in Peshawar last year due to the lack of sufficient supply of sugarcane to the mills and the situation this year is once again looking the same. The Ghur manufacturers are giving top competition to sugar mills in the valley as two sugar mills, ie Frontier Sugar Mills, Takhtbhai and Charsadda Sugar Mills have already been closed due to the lack of sugarcane supply during last 10 years.