Mills Want to Export Expensive Sugar to Alleviate Market Pressure

The Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) has asked the Commerce Ministry to allow the export of expensively produced sugar. In a letter to the Commerce Minister, the PSMA emphasized the need to address the situation and urged the government to formulate a policy allowing the export of at least 1.00 MMT of sugar in two phases, without imposing restrictive conditions, to facilitate sugar mills in settling payments to sugarcane growers and avoid surplus accumulation. This comes in light of the recent crushing season when sugar mills in Punjab and Sindh purchased sugarcane at higher rates than the government’s support price. This led to exorbitant production costs. Despite an ample crop size and increased sugar production, mills engaged in aggressive bidding wars which drove up costs. The association argued that the timing was right for exporting the expensive sugar. It mentioned favorable export conditions, including currency depreciation and the Indian ban on sugar exports due to local demand and increased ethanol production, as factors that should enable Pakistan to exploit the international sugar market today.