Sugar millers to chalk out strategy today

The APSMA has summoned an emergency meeting in Lahore on Tuesday to discuss the impending sugar crisis in the country.

The All Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (APSMA) has summoned an emergency meeting in Lahore on Tuesday to discuss a strategy for tackling an impending sugar crisis in the country.

APSMA Chairman Iskandar Khan told The Express Tribune that mill owners will meet to discuss the impact of fresh quality-standard checks imposed by the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority and the cancellation of import orders by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan.

Khan held the federal ministry of food and agriculture responsible for the shortage of sugar. “They had committed in the Supreme Court that they will curtail the export of raw sugar but did not fulfill their promise,” he said. As a result of the export of raw sugar in previous months, the commodity has become scarce.

Meanwhile, market sources confided that the millers had already supplied at least 80 per cent of their stocks. Some 3.1 million tons of sugar was processed this year while another 500,000 tons were carried by the mills from the previous year.

Market sources say that total demand of the sweetener stands at around 350,000 tons a month.

Mill owners asserted that they are already suffering losses by selling sugar at the current market rate of Rs61 per kg. Iskandar Khan said that total cost of sugar for the millers stands at Rs67 a kg.

He said that even if retail sugar prices were raised to Rs70, they will not cover losses incurred by the industry. Khan lamented that “the Trading Corporation of Pakistan’s mechanism forces it to award contracts to the lowest bidder, even if the prices quoted are unrealistic.”

He explained that the agreed rate of the cancelled import order of 100,000 tons was $488 per ton while the international market price was significantly higher. “It is very obvious that the importer defaulted on the commitment because he preferred losing his deposit of $1 million than suffer a loss of $20 million.”

Meanwhile, the international price of sugar rallied during trade in London on Monday. Sugar for October delivery shot up $13.81 to touch $533.4 per ton. Experts say that receiving fresh supplies may also be an uphill task for the TCP.

Rains have delayed shipment of raw sugar from Brazil and sugar refineries are competing for supplies globally in the face of strong demand.

As sugar mill owners meet on Tuesday, an increase in the retail price of the sweetener seems inevitable. However, TCP sources contend that it is maintaining adequate stocks and that the supply of sugar to utility stores will not be affected.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2010.