LAHORE: Sugar mills of the province have so far purchased sugarcane worth Rs 158 billion during the ongoing crushing season 2022-23 out of which Rs 123 billion has been paid to the growers while Rs 35 billion are still outstanding.

The mills have cleared 78 percent of the outstanding dues while rest are being asked to clear their dues at the earliest as according to law the payment should have been cleared within 15 days of the cane purchase.

Punjab Cane Commissioner Hussain Bahadur while talking to the Business Recorder on Tuesday said that the mills have so far produced 1.95 million metric tons of sugar during the current crushing season which started on November 25, 2022, and hopefully continue till end of March.

“The province had a carryover stock of 580,000 metric tons bringing the total sugar available till now to 2.5 million tons. The mills according to the record provided has sold 530,000 metric tons so far,” he added.

Replying a query, the cane commissioner said that last year the province had produced 5.1 million tons of sugar and this year expectations are that the production would remain between 5.2-5.3 million metric tons.

The cane commissioner said that majority of the mills are 90 percent updated on payment to the growers while a few have paid only 60 percent of the amount outstanding against them.

“We have issued notices to these mills to expedite their payment and meet the legal requirement of clearing the dues within 15 days of the purchase of the sugarcane from the growers,” he concluded.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023