Khyber Pakhtunkhwa mills begin sugarcane crushing

All six sugar mills of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have started sugarcane crushing season and production of sugar. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has six operational sugar mills four in D.I. Khan and one each in Mardan and Peshawar. Two sugar mills included Frontier Sugar Mills (FSM) and Charsadda Sugar Mills have been closed down.
The sugar millers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were reluctant to start crushing season amid insufficient supply of sugarcane while the sugarcane growers were demanding higher price than the already fixed rate of the commodity. Khazana Sugar Mills (KSM) Peshawar started sugarcane crushing after holding special Quraan Khwani in the mill. Talking to Business Recorder, Talih Mand Khan, an official of the mill said that the supply of sugarcane had started and vehicles loaded of the commodity had arrived.
He said that the mill was required 350 units of sugarcane for 24 hours operation. Similarly, Aamir Khan, an official in the office of the General Manager, Chashma Sugar Mills D.I Khan also confirmed the starting of the crushing season. He said that three sugar mills included Thandianwala, Chashma I and Chashma II were all set to start crushing. He was satisfied of sugarcane supply to the mills. He said that mills of the district have no dispute over the price of sugarcane with the growers.
Meanwhile, Saleem Ghurmani, an official of Premier Sugar Mills (PSM) said that though the mill has already started crushing but due to the low supply of sugarcane the mill was running under capacity.
He attributed the low supply of sugarcane and controversy to the price of commodity with the growers to delay in the starting of crushing season in the province. He said that there are little chances of offering higher price on sugarcane to the growers as the price of the sugar was on decline in the country. Due to the lack of sugarcane supply the sugar mills of Peshawar valley could not go for crushing for last two years. This scribe also contacted Sugarcane Commissioner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Rasheed Ahmad, who said that the provincial government has fixed minimum support price of 40-kilogram sugarcane at Rs 150 as compared to Rs 125 of last year.
He said that the provincial government was fixing the minimum support price of sugarcane to enable the growers to dispose of their crop and sugar mills offered price while taking into consideration trend in market. The price of sugarcane, he said was fixed after holding consultations at both federal and provincial levels and price of the commodity in other provinces of the country.
The price of 40-kilogram sugarcane in all parts of the country including Sindh and Punjab for the current season is Rs 150. During the last crushing year, he said sugar mills started offering price from Rs 125 for 40-kilogram, which gradually climbed to Rs 300 per 40-kilogram as the price of sugarcane in market was also higher than the present season.
The prices of sugarcane always remained bone of contention between sugar millers and growers. The growers preferred supplying their crop to Ghur Ghanis for manufacturing of Ghur, who offer good price to them as compared to sugar mills. Afghanistan and tribal areas were attractive markets of Ghur, which instead of sugar used Ghur as sweetener in preparing tea and food items.