‘Cane crushing from Nov 15’

KARACHI: The sugarcane crushing in Sindh province would start from November 5, 2019 and the mills would soon be given further instructions in this regard, a minister said on Friday.

Sindh Minister for Agriculture, Muhammad Ismail Rahoo, chaired a meeting to fix the sugarcane support price and the date for the commencement of crushing season in the province. Member Sindh Assembly Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Secretary Agriculture Agha Zaheer ul Din, DG Agriculture Hidayatullah Chajro, Cane Commissioner and growers as well as representatives of Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (Sindh Zone) also attended the meeting.

Though the meeting decided the date to start the crushing season, it could not come up with the sugarcane price, which would be fixed in the next meeting with the consultation of growers and millers.

The meeting was informed that due to an increase in the cost of sowing, sugarcane production had been affected negatively across the province. Abdul Majeed Nizamani, president Sindh Abadgar Board, said sugarcane production was down this year while federal government had increased the sugar price by Rs20/kg.