ISLAMABAD   -  A joint meeting of Sugar Advisory Board (SAB) and the Cabinet Committee on Monitoring Sugar Export recommended exporting 40,000 metric tonnes of sugar to Tajikistan.

Industries and Production Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain on Thursday chaired a joint meeting of Sugar Advisory Board (SAB) and the Cabinet Committee on Monitoring Sugar Export. The meeting has recommended exporting 40,000 metric tonnes of sugar to Tajikistan.

Following this recommendation, the ministry would present updates on the sugar industry to the Cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for a decision regarding the sugar export.

The minister also noted that the SAB recommended increasing the export period from 45 to 60 days. During the meeting, representatives of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association stated that there had been no increase in the ex-mills price of sugar and it had nothing to do with the retail price of the commodity.

They urged the government to take steps to maintain the retail price. Sugar industry has long been appealing to the government to consider export of surplus sugar as it is facing huge losses due to increased costs of production and by incurring carrying costs on surplus stocks of crushing seasons of 2022-23 and 2023-24. Continuous production of surplus sugar every year without its appropriate exports and domestic sale of sugar below its costs of production has increasingly become unsustainable and unviable for the sugar industry.

The PSMA appeals to the government to urgently grant permission of export of verified surplus stocks of 1.2MMT on 15-07-2024, expected to rise to 1.5 million tonnes by end November, as little time is left in forthcoming crushing season which again is going to be a surplus season and formulate a permanent and inclusive policy on export of surplus sugar so that sugar industry keep contributing foreign exchange to the country’s agricultural and national economy.