Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) has urged the government to buy 0.4 million tons of sugar from mills immediately to avert any chaos in the country, official sources told Business Recorder.
During the Sugar Advisory Board (SAB) meeting held on March 12, 2012, PSMA strongly suggested to the government to buy additional quantity of 400,000 tons through Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to build further strategic stocks besides a request was made for validating export of 100,000 tons of sugar.
PSMA representatives from all three zones envisage an overall production of around 4.7 million tons of sugar for the crushing year 2011-12, moreover, there was a carryover stock of about 500,000 tons which makes total availability of 5.2 million tons, out of which domestic requirement is about 4.2 million tons based on 350,000 tons monthly consumption basis.
TCP has already purchased 478,000 tons and the ECC granted permission to export 100,000 tons out of a surplus of 1,000,000 tons. "We are likely to be left with disposal of the remaining quantity of 422,000 tons, the disposal of which is imperative to clear the remaining outstanding payments of the sugarcane growers. We request that the process of procurement is initiated at the earliest through open public tenders by TCP."
"We have given our recommendations in the SAB meeting to keep sugar in the country to meet with any emergency requirement to control the price increase through open market intervention in the best interest of the consumers of Pakistan," Chairman PSMA, Javed Kayani told Business Recorder.
According to Javed, PSMA wants to avert any chaos emanating from sugar price hike which caused serious unrest in past. As production figures are satisfactory, the government should avail the opportunity to buy from the sugar mills rather than resorting to import at a higher price in haste. An official of the Ministry of Industries told this scribe that PSMA's proposal will be submitted to Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, in its forthcoming meeting, to be presided over by the Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.