TCP accepts PSMA's revised offer of Rs 16.49 per kg

The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has accepted Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) revised offer of Rs 16.49 per kg for 300,000 tonnes procurement and asked its 22 member units to confirm the new rates by Friday afternoon.
TCP Chairman Syed Masood Alam Rizvi told Business Recorder by phone from Karachi on Thursday that evaluation committee has accepted the PSMA revised rates and asked 22 interested mill-owners to confirm in writing the new rates within next 24 hours.
He said TCP would appoint surveyors for physical verification of the stocks at each mill interested in selling the commodity to the government.
Each mill is also required to submit a certificate duly signed by the sugarcane commissioner of respective area that payments to the growers as per the conditionalities of the agreement would be cleared by June 15.
The mill-owners had quoted the TCP minimum rates of Rs 17 per kg in response to its tender, but later voluntarily revised the rates.
In line with the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet decision 24 mills had shown interest in selling their stocks to the TCP. These mills had quoted rates ranging between Rs 16.99 to Rs 17.20 per kg. However, two mills were dropped by TCP from the list in the process of finalisation and picked up 22 to buy 300,000 tonnes sugar.
The procurement is subject to timely payments to the growers and commissioning of the next crushing season from November 1.
The government would hold back procured commodity as buffer stock to meet possible shortfall in the coming years.
Pakistan's net sugar production in 2003-04 stood at 3.9 million tonnes and its net stocks with the last year's carryover reached to 4.5 million tonnes. This indicated surplus of around one million since consumption for the current year is expected between 3.4 and 5 million tonnes.
The huge stocks had left the mill-owners in complete disarray and reduced chances for the growers to get their payments. Its other implication could be possible delay in commissioning of crushing season for 2004-05.
Smelling serious crisis for the sugar sector, the government had picked up first instalment of 0.2 million tonnes of the commodity early this year and this would be the second instalment of 0.3 million tonnes.