Sugar price: Caretaker commerce minister hints at strict measures

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Minister of Commerce and Industries Dr Gohar Ejaz hinted at strict measures to provide sugar at low prices to the nationals.

Dr Gohar Ejaz said in a statement that the caretaker government is making efforts to provide low-cost sugar to the nationals.

“We cannot continue the previous policies. We cannot allow the export of sugar stocks and later its imports,” he added.

The caretaker commerce minister said that a key session would be held at the earliest to implement the track and trace system in the sugar sector.

Yesterday, the caretaker government postponed the decision to export 250,000 metric tons of sugar and sought details of available stock from the sugar mill owners.

Sources told ARY News that Dr Ejaz chaired a meeting of Sugar Advisory Board (SAB) to consider the request of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) to export surplus sugar.

During the meeting, sugar mill owners sought permission to export 250,000 metric tons of surplus sugar.

While deferring the decision till Thursday, the advisory board directed the sugar mills owners to share the sugar stock details by the next meeting.

The Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) claimed that it had 1.13 million metric tons of sugar in stock, while the country’s annual requirement was around 0.7 million metric tons.