20000115

ECC to give go-ahead for sugar exports on 20th

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee of the Federal Cabinet will take a final decision on sugar export in the current fiscal, Food and Agriculture Ministry officials told Fortuna on Friday.

These officials said the ECC will decide the matters of export quantity and destination in its meeting on next Thursday.

Meanwhile, a secretary-level meeting of the concerned ministries is also being held on January 18 to chalk out the modalities of sugar export during the current year. The secretaries and deputy secretaries of the ministries of food and agriculture, commerce and finance will attend the meeting. On the agenda for meeting are proposals and figures given by Pakistan Sugar Mills Association besides a review of sugar reserves in the country. The meeting will present its report to the ECC.

In response to a question, the food ministry source said there were different proposals before the committee to fix the quantity of sugar from 100,000 to 500,000 tonnes for export. "The PSMA has recommended that they are ready to export at least 100,000 tonnes of sugar after keeping enough reserves to meet domestic requirements."

However, the agriculture ministry has okayed export of up to 500,000 tonnes because of the surpluses carried forward from the previous years and an expected surplus this season.

Sugar production estimates for the current season have been placed at around 3.2 million tonnes against total domestic requirement of no more than 3 million tonnes.

The PSMA representatives urged Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and other government functionaries in a meeting last month to arrange for export of minimum 100,000 tonnes of sugar to stabilise sugar prices in the domestic market.

PSMA General Secretary K. Ali Qazilbash told Fortuna that the present input cost of sugar was comparatively high while prices in the domestic market were on the lower side due to over-supply in the market.

Qazilbash said his association had provided updated industry analysis to the government to facilitate an early decision permitting sugar exports and rebate.

He maintained that the rebate of eight rupees to a kilogram of sugar was far less than that required to keep the industry afloat.

The PSMA representatives have also urged the government to link sugarcane prices with its quality to pull the sugar industry out of the prevailing crisis.ÑFortuna