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ANWAR RAJANI

KARACHI: A tough competition between sugar mills for sugarcane supplies in the face of crop shortage has brought windfall profits to sugarcane growers.

The government had fixed the sugarcane price at Rs. 36 per 40 kgs. It now ranges between Rs. 48 and Rs. 50 for 40 kgs.

Yet the crop being short, the supplies to the mills are not normal.

The mill owners have, therefore, passed on the burden to the consumer and the price of sugar has gone up by Rs 1.50 per kg, in the market.

The mill-owners particularly in Sindh have raised the cane price for growers. Consequently the ex-factory price of sugar has been raised from Rs. 16.50 to about Rs. 18 per kg and the retailers have followed suit with an increase of about Rs. 1.50 per kg. Now the price of sugar in retail is reported to be ranging between Rs. 20 and Rs. 21 per kg.

With a short cane crop, the total production of sugar in the country may hardly touch the figure of three million tonnes as against 3.5 million tonnes last year.

There is no question of export of sugar this year because the production will hardly suffice for local consumption, market men said.

It may be mentioned here that cotton growers have suffered losses this year but the sugarcane growers have reaped a rich harvest.

According to reports reaching Karachi the sugar mills will operate till February 29. Last year, the mills had continued crushing till the end of March.