The Ministry of Industries and Production (MoI&P) is to submit third party sugar cost evaluation report to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, official sources told Business Recorder. This was indicated by Additional Secretary MoI&P at a recent meeting of the ECC during a discussion on domestic sugar availability during Ramazan.
The ECC in its decision of March 7, 2018 directed the Commerce Division to take stock of the latest developments with a view to ensuring availability of adequate quantity of sugar during Ramazan and submit a report thereof to the ECC for information.
Pursuant to the decision of the ECC, the Commerce Division requested the Ministry of Industries & Production to work out domestic sugar availability situation to ensure that there would be sufficient quantity available in the domestic market in the wake of ongoing sugar export and a likely surge in sugar demand during Ramazan 2018.
The Commerce Division further revealed that the previous year's stock of sugar was 1.03 MT after deducting sold stocks of 1.28 MT. At present, stocks of 4.35 MT of sugar are available with the millers. It was also noted that after taking into consideration of 0.433 MT of monthly sugar consumption in the country, Ministry of Industries & Production conveyed that there would be no shortage of sugar in domestic market during Ramazan.
During ensuing discussion, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi observed that price of sugar is declining, which is even less than the cost of production. He enquired about the reason for this decline. The Additional Secretary, Ministry of Industries & Production stated that at present average price of sugar is around Rs 52 per KG and the decline in the price is due to availability of surplus stock of sugar in the country. Moreover, the quantity of sugar which has been exported so far is far less than the allowed quantity despite the subsidy.
According to him, main reason for lower exports is that demand for sugar outside the country is declining.
The Minister for Power, Awais Leghari stated that it was earlier decided in the ECC meeting that a third party evaluation will be carried out to assess actual cost of production of sugar, which has not yet been done.
The Additional Secretary, Ministry of Industries & Production responded that third party evaluation is under process and a report thereof will be submitted to the ECC shortly.
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