Tug-of-war: Sugar mills want delay in crushing season

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) has decided not to start the crushing season unless the government allows it to export surplus sugar.

This decision was taken at a meeting of PSMA General Body called by its Central Chairman Asim Ghani Usman on Thursday. Owners of sugar mills from Punjab, Sindh and KP attended the meeting in large numbers.

A summary on sugarcane support price and the new crushing season has been received by Punjab Chief Minister’s Secretariat. The Punjab cabinet with Ch Pervaiz Elahi in the chair would take the decision on the summary in the next 24 hours. The cabinet is expected to fix the sugarcane support price at Rs300-319 per 40kg. The sugar mills would be advised to start crushing season in the last week of this month. The notification in this regard is likely to be issued in the next 24 hours. The PSMA meeting was told the mills possessed a stock of sugar needed in the country till January 15, 2023. The mills owners said they had two options — to delay the crushing season so that their stock of 1 million tonne surplus sugar is used by January 15. The other is government allows them to export the surplus sugar. The PSMA will hold another meeting on Friday (today) to press the government to allow them to export the surplus sugar.