TCP rebuts claims of substandard sugar

The Trading Corporation of Pakistan says that reports of substandard sugar are based on incomplete information.

KARACHI: The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has said that reports of substandard and low quality imported sugar are based on incomplete information. It further claimed that these reports were baseless and untrue.

According to the TCP, the sugar quality, its packaging and labelling is assessed by international pre-shipment inspection companies before the commodity is loaded on to ships. Later, the sugar is only offloaded after a quality check by the Pakistan Standard Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) and the Pakistan Scientific and Industrial Research Laboratories.

The TCP claims that the truth is that the Economic Coordination Committee had issued a singular relaxation for packaging and labels below national standards. The relaxation was provided to ease the sugar crisis and will only last for imports arriving till October 31.

The sugar was imported from India and a clearance certificate was obtained from the quality control authorities, the TCP claimed.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had earlier stopped the imported sugar shipment but later allowed its transport to TCP warehouses once it was satisfied with its investigation. The FIA’s Immigration Wing had sealed off a warehouse in Pipri belonging to the TCP after being tipped off that the corporation had imported sugar of sub-standard quality from India on Saturday. Allegedly, in order to conceal the poor quality of the sweetener, it was being packaged in locally printed bags.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2010.