Govt removes PSMA’s ‘reservations’

Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) Chairman Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf on Friday said the government had removed their reservations and normalcy would return soon in terms of production of the sweetener.

Following a PSMA delegation’s meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan, the association’s chairman maintained that sugar mills would start their crushing season from November 15.

Addressing a news conference, Ashraf said the premier had assured the association that the government would promote free economy of sugar business in the country.

“The premier has admitted that the sugar industry was an important sector,” he added.
For this purpose, the PSMA chairman said, the prime minister had formed a committee headed by Finance Adviser Shaukat Tarin. The committee includes three federal ministers, federal secretaries, and provincial chief secretaries.

“If this [sugar] industry lacks proper functioning then it compels the government to import sugar after spending a huge sum of money, which the country cannot afford,” Ashraf said.

He also said the finance adviser had also assured the association that the prices fixed by the governments of Punjab and Sindh would also remain as national prices.

“The government itself would not indulge in setting the prices of sugarcane and sugar. It would leave it to the market mechanism to determine pricing. However, the government would maintain strategic reserve stocks and intervene in the market at an appropriate time to supplement it and to keep the prices at a reasonable level.”

READ Confectioners closing down as sugar price surges to Rs170/kg

The PSMA chairman further explained that if surplus sugar was produced, then the government would purchase it and later also allow the mills to export it.

He said Tarin had also assured the PSMA that he would persuade banks for arranging the working capital for sugar mills so that they could timely pay to the farmers.

“He [Tarin] also stressed us to pay the farmers within 15 to 20 days of the start of crushing season.”
Ashraf said the finance adviser had also assured the association that the sugar industry’s problems related to the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) would be resolved on a priority basis.

“He [Tarin] has also asked the federal and provincial secretaries to resolve the issues of sugar industry especially matters related to arrests, registering of FIRs and conducting raids on mills.”

The PSMA chairman said the finance adviser had also assured them that he would regularly conduct meetings with the industry’s officials and make efforts to resolve their problems.

In August this year, the CCP had imposed penalties worth Rs44 billion on the sugar mills association and 81 of its members on the basis of a split decision – making the case weak in the eyes of the law.

Last month, PM’s Adviser on Accountability and Interior Shahzad Akbar had said Rs619 billion in additional taxes had been imposed on sugar mills -- of which the courts had ordered to annul Rs38 billion.

Earlier this month, the Punjab government had intensified its crackdown on “hoarders”, sealing two sugar mills and seizing hundreds of bags of the commodity during raids in different cities.