Punjab wants duty-free sugar import

LAHORE: The Punjab government has asked the prime minister to allow duty-free import of sugar by private sector besides canceling previous exports permissions of sweetener to stabilize its price on a long term basis.

Otherwise, the spike in price could come again despite all administrative measures taken by the provincial government to control the surge in sugar rates in the country. This was suggested to the prime minister in a Saturday meeting during his visit to Lahore. An official who attended the meeting disclosed that Chief Secretary Punjab Major (retd) Azam Suleman stressed the need for a timely decision on sugar import to stabilize the sugar price and control the crisis through policy decisions instead of relying only on administrative measures.

Earlier, the government permitted the export of 1.1 million metric tonnes of sugar out of which by February 3 2020, almost 783,000 tonnes were exported and slightly more than 0.3 million metric tonnes of sugar is yet to be exported. The Punjab government suggested that the government should immediately ban sugar exports.

Sources said news of allowing sugar exports were appeared in the media, but no decision on it was made. Thus the prime minister was again sensitized on the issue of timely allowing sugar imports along with banning sugar exports. Further, they disclosed that the federal government was sensitized in August-September 2019 about the expected sugar crisis, anticipating reduction in sugarcane production in the country. However, the federal government did not pay heed to the suggestion at that time and maintained the sugar exports permission. This resulted in the current sugar prices issue despite that sugar was available in the country.

They believed that the cabinet members dealing with the economic policies might not sensitize the prime minister about the gravity of the situation after an expected increase in sugar prices due to sugarcane reduction. They kept the prime minister blind, which adversely hit the government, they said. It is worth-mentioning here that historically sugar prices have adverse political impact in Pakistan as it was one of the cause of end to the Ayub era after increase in sugar prices.