Govt directs sugar mills to pay farmers

Policy is also on cards to regularise sugar exports.

ISLAMABAD: The government directed the sugar mills to make necessary arrangements for payment to sugarcane growers as soon as possible to allow them to prepare for the next crop.

An official of the Agriculture Policy Institute (API) said directives in this regard were issued by the government after receiving several complaints from the growers for non-payment of their produces. To overcome liquidity issues, the government decided to provide around Rs1.65 per kilogramme (kg) as subsidy to the local sugar mills through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), he added.

He went on to say the TCP will purchase 300,000 tons of sugar from the 69 sugar mills across the country to resolve liquidity issues of the millers by selling their output. He said that according to the law, sugar mills were bound to pay the farmers within 15 days, adding that the complaints were duly forwarded to provincial sugarcane commissioners for immediate action.

In 2012, the sugarcane output was 55 million tons compared to the previous year’s output of 65.5 million tons. Surplus sugar production is expected this year to fulfil the domestic and export requirements. Annual domestic consumption was estimated to be 4.2 million tons and 0.2 million tons of surplus sugar production is expected this year with abundant carried forward stocks held by the sugar mills.



Policy was also on cards to regularise the exports to fetch hefty foreign exchange and capture international market. The period from July to August was the prime time for exporting sugar and the commodity was cheaper internationally than domestically making it harder to export.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2013.

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