Sugar industry receives Rs1 bn export subsidy

ISLAMABAD: The sugar industry has managed to get Rs1 billion for export subsidy, reveals the budget document.

The sugarcane growers are demanding payments against their produce from the sugar mills but they are not being paid. Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar has also come forwarded for the justified payments from the sugar mills.

Pakistan last had an export subsidy in 2015/16, set at Rs13,000 per tonne for export of 650,000 tonnes of the sweetener. Sugarcane is a popular crop in Pakistan as the government sets procurement prices, while the industry is protected by a 40 percent import tariff which has led to high domestic prices.

The area given over to sugarcane has increased about 30 percent over the past seven years, while the out-put has doubled with the help of government sub-sidies for fertilisers and other aids.