KARACHI: Following the directive of the federal government, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has made a significant decision to revise its international tender for sugar import, reducing the quantity from 300,000 metric tons to just 50,000 metric tons.
On July 11, the state-run grain trader issued a tender for the import of 300,000 metric tons of sugar with bids invited until July 18, 2025. However, in a recent development, TCP issued a corrigendum to reduce the tender quantity, revise certain import specifications, and extend the tender opening date.
Now, the tender will have import quantity of 50,000 metric tons of sugar as against the previous 300,000 metric ton. “The words “300,000 metric tons” appearing under the heading Tender No.1, shall now be read as “50,000 metric tons,” according to corrigendum issued by the TCP.
TCP invites bids for import of 0.3m tons of sugar
In addition, the tender opening date has been extended by four days. As per the revised schedule, the sugar import tender will now be opened on July 22, 2025, instead of the previously announced date of July 18, 2025. “The date of opening of tender appearing as July 18, 2025” in paragraph No.2 and paragraph No.4, shall now be read as “July 22, 2025”, the TCP announced.
Another amendment has been made in the “Grade”. Previously, bids were invited for the “Medium Grade”, while now bidder can submit bids for the Small (Fine) and Medium Grade Sugar.
Market sources said that the change in the TCP’s tender comes in response to concerns raised by the IMF over the tax exemption granted on sugar imports and it believed that such exemptions could negatively impact Pakistan’s $7 billion loan program. However, no official confirmation of the IMF’s concerns has been issued.
They said that following the import of the sugar, the domestic sugar supply situation could be impacted, as import is expected to increase the sugar supply in the local market. It may be mentioned here that in order to stabilize the rising prices of the commodity and avoid shortage on the domestic market, the federal government has decided to import 0.5 million metric tons of sugar.
Accordingly, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has exempted customs duty on the import of 0.5 million tons sugar and also reduced sales tax rate from 18 percent to 0.25 percent and withholding tax up to 0.25 percent on the import of commodity by the TCP or private sector.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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