Sugar export

Sugarcane is an important cash crop of Pakistan. It is sown on a large area of the country. Linked with it is a viable industry. Sugar industry is the second largest agro based industry in the country, producing refined sugar from the sugarcane. Also, some portion of the crop is used for the production of "Gur" (brown sugar), especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Sugarcane is a long duration crop as compared to other cash crops grown in the country. It requires great skill and huge investment in the form of inputs on part of the farmers to grow this labour-intensive and cost-oriented crop. Farmers are faced with a host of problems in the form of increase in cost of inputs, high labour rates, water usage charges, etc. It will be opportune to narrate some facts about sugarcane and sugar industry as under:
i) The sugar industry of Pakistan is amongst the top ten global sugar industries.
ii) Pakistan is a leading exporter of sugar, earning 1.3 billion dollars in just 60 months.
iii) Sugarcane/sugar industry is a major contributor to the country's GDP.
iv) Sugarcane is the 4th largest cash crop of the country. Some Rs 250 billion is contributed to the rural economy annually. Also, billions of rupees are paid to the government in the form of taxes.
v) Hundreds of millions of farmers' prosperity depends on sugarcane and sugar industry.
vi) Timely payments and effective extension services given to farmers by the sugar industry have almost doubled sugarcane production in the country.
vii) Sugar and ethanol exports constitute 3rd largest export of Pakistan, earning hundreds of millions of dollars every year and all this without seeking any monetary concessions from the government.
viii) The sugar industry provides 300 MWs power to the National Grid with the potential to add another 1500MWs.
The Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet in its meeting held under the chairmanship of the Federal Finance Minister on December 28, 2016 approved export of 225,000 tonnes of sugar from surplus stocks. The decision was taken after ascertaining that there would be 1.23 million metric tons of surplus sugar available in the country. The ECC, however, directed the Ministry of Commerce to ensure adequate checks and balances available to maintain the price stability in the domestic market at the current level.
It merits a mention that the future belongs to exporting economies and the sugar industry can play a lead role. However, the industry's immense export potential is curtailed by a low export ceiling of 225,000 tonnes. This year, the country has a bumper sugarcane crop and consequently a massive surplus of sugar. Sugar mills are finding it difficult to make payments to farmers in the presence of mounting sugar stocks. This surplus is the excess sugar stock. The Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) has underscored the need for lifting this bar on surplus stocks and raising the present sugar export quota to one million tonnes. This will add to country's export earnings. Also, this will help sugar mills make timely payments to the farmers.