Copyright brecorder
LAHORE: The Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) has claimed that no final date to start the crushing season was decided in the recently held meeting of the Sugar Advisory Board (SAB), as millers were of the view that ample sugar stocks are currently available in the country. The PSMA stated that several mill owners and their representatives attended the meeting of the Sugar Advisory Board. They said their mills would take individual decisions and start the new crushing season after the current stocks are exhausted, adding that there is no need for the federal government to issue a notification in this regard. No final date for the start of the crushing season was agreed upon, and there is no justification for commencing crushing operations on November 15. The association assured the meeting that sugar stocks are sufficient to meet the country’s needs until December 15. If the mills start early, raw sugarcane will be crushed before reaching optimum maturity, resulting in lower sucrose levels. Consequently, about 300,000 tons less sugar may be produced, falling short of production estimates and causing potential losses of billions of rupees to the national economy and the sugar industry. In addition, the remaining sugar stocks of the mills will put pressure on their cash flow, and they will bear additional financial costs to maintain these inventories. The sugarcane farmers may also be affected, as due to the financial crunch, mills might not be able to offer timely and favorable prices for the crop as they did last year. The government may also face difficulties in selling the expensive imported sugar if the crushing season starts early, resulting in heavy losses to the national exchequer. The PSMA spokesman said that as long as the supply of local sugar remains uninterrupted in the market, prices stay stable. However, the government unnecessarily imported nearly 325,000 tons of sugar and, upon its arrival, closed the FBR portals to ensure its sale in the market. This led to disruptions in the sugar supply chain in various markets, consequently increasing prices, for which the sugar industry was neither a beneficiary nor responsible. He added that, after realising the situation, the supply of sugar from mills at the notified ex-mill price is now being restored. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
