No sugar sold in TCP auction

Eight parties submit bids, offered prices below the landed cost of Rs65,000 per ton.

KARACHI: An open market auction of sugar held by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) failed to award any tender on Monday.

According to a press release issued by the TCP, the association “in an effort to off-load 23,000 tons of sugar opened a tender on Monday.” Eight parties submitted bids but all of them offered prices that were below the landed cost of Rs65,000 per ton as they ranged between Rs57,407 and Rs61,111 per ton.

“The bidders were given the option of matching the landed cost but no party agreed to increase its price,” a TCP spokesperson told The Express Tribune.

The release said that at the weekend, 18,000 tons of sugar were lifted by provincial governments, Utility Stores Corporation (USC) and private parties. The government of Punjab has lifted 13,000 tons while USC has lifted 3,000 tons of the sweetener.

TCP officials conceded that off-loading of sugar has slowed down due to lesser availability of trucks and workers on account of Eid holidays. However, officials asserted that the corporation will continue to provide sugar to provincial governments at Rs65,000 per ton.

Market participants say that the low interest in the auction is a precursor to lower prices of sugar in the domestic market.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2010.