ISLAMABAD: The government will not charge 17 percent sales tax on the import of sugar, including the import of 0.5 million tons of sugar from India, which would keep the local industry at a disadvantageous position due to levy of sales tax on local supplies, claimed the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) Chairman, Iskandar M Khan, on Wednesday.
Talking to Business Recorder, Khan said the PSMA did not oppose the import of sugar but the government also needed to charge 17 percent sales tax on the import of sugar as the same standard rate of sales tax was being applied on the domestic supplies of this commodity.
The exemption of sales tax on local supplies of sugar will not only benefit our farmers but also play a major role in lowering down the price of sugar.
He said the total production of sugar in the current years is of 5.56 million tons.
This year, he said, the country may face shortage of 300,000 tons to 200,000 tons of sugar.
Khan maintained that the situation would have been different today, had the government not ordered sugar mills to start crushing 20 days prior to the designated date of November 30, 2020; as a result of which, he added, lower recovery of sugarcane has deprived the country of approximately 300,000 tons of sugar.
Meanwhile, the Punjab government has made it mandatory for the brokers, dealers or wholesalers of sugar to get themselves registered with the concerned deputy commissioners (DCs) for purchase or sale of sugar within the province.
The Punjab government, on Wednesday, issued the supply chain management of essential items order-2021 under which brokers, dealers, wholesalers, and retailers, cannot keep more than 2.5 metric tons of sugar (50 bags) in an open area.
All godown keepers will be required to maintain and report stocks to DCs.
Moreover, millers cannot sell sugar to unregistered brokers, dealers, and wholesalers. The sold quantity should be lifted within 15 days by brokers, dealers, wholesalers, and within three months by bulk consumers.
If a DC reports shortage of sugar, he can order the purchase of sugar through brokers, dealers, and wholesalers.
On purchase of sugar, the proceeds will be deposited with the national exchequer.
Under the order, an occupier of a factory, a broker, a dealer or a wholesaler “shall apply to the deputy commissioner, on the prescribed format, for registration of a godown.” The order said that “no occupier of factory, broker, dealer, wholesaler or any other person shall store sugar, exceeding two and a half metric tons, except in a godown registered under the order. In case of storage of more than two and a half metric tons of sugar in a godown, the occupier of a factory, broker, dealer or wholesaler or any other person who stored such sugar, shall intimate the same to the deputy commissioner in the prescribed format immediately after such storage.”
The order also said: “In case of apprehension of or shortage of sugar in the market, it shall be lawful for the cane commissioner or the deputy commissioner of the concerned district to issue directions to an occupier of factory, a broker, a dealer or a wholesaler or a retailer to sell a specified quantity of sugar, held by such occupier of factory, broker, dealer, wholesaler or retailer, at notified ex-mill, wholesale or retail price, as the case may be.
“The cane commissioner or deputy commissioner, in the event of shortage of sugar, may take possession of the stored sugar and sell or direct selling of such quantity of sugar, as he may deem necessary, through the dealers or wholesalers or retailers or officials of government of the Punjab in the market to the general consumers, and deposit the proceeds thereof in the treasury.
“Every occupier of factory, broker, dealer, wholesaler or bulk consumer shall intimate the cane commissioner, each sale relating to future buying or future selling on the prescribed format, within three days of such sale.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021