Pakistan Kissan Ittehad has urged the 82 sugar mills to start much delayed cane crushing season 2018-19 across the country as the government has met their demands for this purpose. Talking to Business Recorder here on Tuesday PKI President Khalid Mahmood Khokhar said that the government has approved export of additional 0.1 million ton of sugar and a subsidy of Rs. 6.6 per KG to off-load the existing stocks.
This export quota is in addition to quantity of one million tons already approved in ECC meeting on October 3, 2018. Khokhar warned that if the sugar millers still do not start cane crushing immediately, the growers will hold protest marches as the year long sugarcane is the most important cash crop for the rural economy that provides livelihood to millions of people directly and indirectly.
It is worth mentioning that Sugar industry in Pakistan is the Second largest agro-based industry after Textiles. Pakistan is an important cane producing country and is ranked fifth in world cane acreage and 15th in sugar production. Its share in value added of agriculture and GDP are 3.4 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively; among the provinces, Punjab accounts for 65 percent of area (2.2 million acres.), Sindh 25 percent, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 10 percent of sugarcane area.
It is pertinent to recall that the millers were demanding immediate export subsidy, citing high cost of doing business, sugarcane liquidity and payments of outstanding refunds, reduction in purchase price of sugarcane from Rs. 180 per maund to Rs. 140 per maund (40 KG) and levy of sales tax on actual per KG price of sugar rather than on presumed price of Rs, 160 per KG to start the crushing season.
"Besides, mismatch between the cane and sugar price is also making it unfeasible for the millers to start crushing, as it was causing a loss of Rs. 15 per KG to the industry" PSMA claimed. Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet in its meeting held on November 22, 2018 discussed in detail the issues of sugarcane price mechanism, cost of production of sugarcane and sugar, sugar mills liquidity situation and outstanding liabilities. The sugar mills association is expected to respond to government's concessions today, Khokhar hoped.