Sugar to cost Rs10 more at Utility Store

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

ISLAMABAD: The ministerial committee on sugar decided on Monday to increase the price of sugar being sold at the Utility Stores by Rs10 to Rs55 per kilogram.

A meeting of the committee noted the price differential would be no more than Rs10 per kg over the average market price in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.



The huge difference between prices in the open market and the USC was creating social and business problems for its management.

“The heavy rush of people outside the Utility Stores gets out of control at times and because of hefty margins many people buy sugar from the stores only to sell it in the open market,” the committee was informed.

Sources said the committee had decided to stop official interference in the market mechanism from the next crushing season. The decision will be implemented after the ongoing tender process for import of sugar by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan is completed.

“Market forces will be allowed to prevail and the private sector will be encouraged to import sugar,” the committee decided.

The TCP has been asked to complete the tendering process for import of 375,000 tons of white sugar on schedule.

The committee urged the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet to allow duty-free import of 500,000 tons of raw sugar by mills till Nov 30 on a first come first served basis.

“This will supplement the local sugar production and improve stocks during the coming crushing season,” a senior official of the ministry of industries and production told Dawn.

The meeting was informed that sugar stocks on Monday stood at 1.17 million tons. Punjab has 600,000 tons, Sindh 277,000 tons, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 43,000 tons and Balochistan 5,000 tons. The TCP has 182,000 tons.

In order to ensure ample supplies and defeat hoarding and speculation, 100,000 tons of TCP imported sugar will be offloaded in the open market at import price through provincial mechanisms.

The provinces will have to pay in cash when they lift sugar stocks from the TCP before Ramazan. Punjab will be allocated 50,000 tons of sugar, Sindh 17,000 tons, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 20,000 tons and Balochistan 8,000 tons. AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan will get 5,000 tons.

TCP officials said the organisation was not in a position to offload sugar on credit because it owed Rs42 billion to the federal government and Rs14 billion to the provinces on account of sale of sugar and urea.

The meeting was attended by the federal ministers for food and agriculture, science and technology and petroleum and natural resources, minister of state for finance and economic affairs, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, federal and provincial secretaries, cane commissioners, TCP chairman, USC managing director and a senior SBP official.