 |
| |
WEEKLY
SECTIONS |
 |
|
 |
| Finance ministry asks TCP to import 1m tons of sugar |
|
|
|
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
By Aftab Maken
ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Finance has not permitted millers to import raw sugar and instead tasked the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to purchase half a million tons from abroad as well as half a million tons of white sugar to build reserves, it is learnt.
Presiding over a high-level meeting on sugar import for the current season, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin asked the TCP to import one million tons of sugar, half of which would be raw sugar while the remaining white sugar, a participant of the meeting told The News.
The finance minister rejected the TCP’s request not to involve it in the import of raw sugar. None of the participants of the meeting supported that viewpoint mainly because of the bitter experience of handling the sugar millers in the past few months, said the official but requested not to be named.
The millers have switched positions regarding sugar stocks lying with them. First, they asked the government to allow import of the sweetener and then backed off showing surplus stocks.
The sugar plan will be placed before the federal cabinet, which is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in the chair. Under the plan, a high-level committee will oversee all the matters related to sugar import and its disbursement.
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has forecast a shortage of 0.8 to 1 million tons of sugar in the upcoming crushing year as the area sown with sugarcane crop has decreased, leading to a drop in production from 50 million to 48 million tons.
“We suspect that the millers will import raw sugar at the right time or bring it to the market after processing,” another participant of the meeting said.
A committee would allocate the imported raw sugar prior to its arrival at the ports and the designated mills would be responsible for its transport from the ports to their godowns, the official added.
Trading Corporation of Pakistan Chairman Saeed Ahmed Khan told The News the TCP would not be responsible for the transport of imported raw sugar as it would add unnecessarily to the cost in dispatch to distribution outlets like the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) and provincial food departments.
|
|
|
| Back
| Send
this story to Friend | Print
Version |
|
|
|
ISSN 1563-9479 
