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  • News Desk
  • Jan 13th, 2016
  • Comments Off on ‘Ungenerous’ sugar millers will not get subsidy
Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet which is scheduled to meet on Wednesday (today) with Finance Minister, Senator Ishaq Dar in the chair will not approve a subsidy of Rs 13 per kg to those sugar mills that do not pay Rs 180 per 40 kg to cane growers, well informed sources told Business Recorder. This proposal is being submitted by the Commerce Ministry on the recommendations of a committee headed by Commerce Minister Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan.

The committee, however, expressed concern on increase in price of sugar by 15 per cent in a few months despite the fact that sugar mills did not export a single kg of sugar after the ECC decision. Sugar mills are of the view that that they cannot export more than 100,000 to 200,000 tons per month due to insufficient facilities at local ports in Karachi.

The Prime Minister has directed the provincial governments to notify sugarcane price of Rs 180 per 40 kg. Both Punjab and KPK implemented the decision but millers of Sindh got a stay order from the court. Sources in Commerce Ministry told Business Recorder that during the last crushing season sugar industry was granted permission to export 650,000 tons of sugar of which only 550,000 tons could be exported within the stipulated time. The entire quantity could not be exported despite the fact ECC had allowed export rebate of Rs 10 per kg which still proved insufficient in view of the international market.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2016


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