Putting Indian sugar on negative list: US official concerned at PSMA demand

The US Consulate General Lahore is reportedly worried about the unexpected demand of Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) to place Indian sugar on negative list, sources in sugar industry told Business Recorder. Economic Officer of the US Consulate Jessica E Berlow called on Chairman PSMA Javed Kayani to get a sector briefing on sugar industry particularly about the PSMA stance on placing Indian sugar on the negative list.
When contacted, Chairman PSMA confirmed that the US Economic Officer held a meeting with him and inquired about the likely repercussions and the concern of stakeholders, inclusive of sugar industry and growers, over import of Indian sugar. "I informed Ms Berlow that in the event of dumping of sugar from India, payments to growers would be delayed as cheap and substandard Indian sugar would halt the sale of local industry which is paying a very heavy cost to the growers and as a result the cost of producing sugar would go up phenomenally," Kayani added. He also explained to her that it is important to safeguard the interests of the country.
Chairman PSMA further gave her details about the production figures up to December 30, with Punjab having produced 400,000 tons, Sindh 125,000 tons and KPK 25,000 tons. Javed Kayani also gave her province-wise estimates and hoped that Punjab would end up with 2.2 million tons, Sindh 1.2 million tons and KPK 300,000 tons of sugar after the crushing season.
US Economic Officer wanted to ascertain any likely sugar shortage in the country and showed concern about the fact that consumers are facing a sugar price hike, he continued. Javed Kayani elucidated the dynamics of the sugar industry and argued that the current year''s production and carryover inventories of TCP would meet the requirements of the country and that there is no imminent shortage in the near term.
According to him, crop pattern abruptly changed with a sudden increase in the wheat prices during the preceding years and area under cultivation of sugarcane reduced thereby causing resultant shortage of sugar. Chairman PSMA argued that the industry has an installed capacity to crush 565,000 tons of sugarcane daily which can produce over 5 million tons of sugar in 100 days provided the industry gets sugarcane commensurate with capacity. "I urged the US to help Pakistan in the area of Research and Development to introduce high sucrose and high yield varieties of sugarcane in Pakistan to achieve autarky in sugar and to overcome future deficits," he concluded.