Govt fails to ban gur export

ISLAMABAD - Government has failed to honour its commitment to impose ban on the export of gur in order to control sugar smuggling to Afghanistan and stabilise sugar prices in the country, TheNation learnt on Tuesday.
According to sources, the Government said in the Supreme Court that it would impose ban on the export of gur, however the commodity was still being exported, especially to Afghanistan. Meanwhile Cabinet Division also approved the policy to impose the ban on the export of gur.
Talking to TheNation, Iskandar Khan, Chairman Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), said that with the export of gur, a large quantity of sugar was being smuggled to Afghanistan, as its prices were higher there as compared to Pakistan. Sugar prices in Afghanistan are around Rs 120 per kilogram to Rs 140/kg while this commodity is available at around Rs 70 per kilogram in Pakistan, he added.
He said the Government was blaming sugar millers for selling sugar in Afghanistan instead of Pakistan, which was totally baseless. He said as sugarcane prices surged to Rs 250 per 40 kilograms, which would take commodity prices to around Rs 80 per kilogram in March and April of this year. He said he had asked the Government in a letter during the last year to import the raw sugar in order to stabilise its prices, however the Government did not accept his proposal. At that time prices of raw sugar were around $ 500 per metric tonne, which have now surged to $ 765 per metric tonne presently, he added.