Hammad dismisses media report, says TCP imported sugar at 'competitive' rates

Minister for Industries & Production Hammad Azhar has dismissed media reports regarding the government’s recent sugar import.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, the minister said that the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) imported sugar at the 'most competitive' rates from the international markets without any government subsidy involved. “It will also be sold in the market by Punjab government at prices much below the current retail and ex-mill rates,” he said.

The statement comes after a private news channel report said that the commission report estimated sugar price at Rs 63.13 after the deduction of profit and taxes leveled on sugar mills. But the government bought 2.1 million tonnes sugar at Rs 83.50 from the sugar mills from December 2019 to July 2020.

Meanwhile, Hammad further also dismissed this claim saying that the report published also falsely claims that the government had procured 2 million tonnes of sugar from the mills, or that that the government is importing another million tonnes. “The total sugar sold in Pakistan is around 5 to 6 million tonnes in a year! The government is importing 150,000 tonnes only,” he said.

This comes in response to a media report stating that the government has so far imported 55,000 tonnes of sugar and plans to acquire another one million tonnes in order to reduce the price.

It is pertinent to mention that the government is importing 151,700 metric tons of sugar to meet the requirement of the Punjab province, the sugar is being imported through Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP).