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Pakistan sugar prices soar through the roof, sell at ₹180 per kg amid Ramazan demand
The sugar prices in Pakistan increased despite a warning from the deputy prime minister over the ceiling of the price surge.
Sugar prices are shooting up the roof in Pakistan even though deputy prime minister Ishaq Dar warned a few days back that the prices should not breach the (Pak) ₹164 per kg limit.
A report from The Dawn said that the average national price of sugar ranged between ₹164 to ₹180 per kilogram.
After Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a crackdown on hoarders on March 15, the wholesale price of sugar fell from ₹168 per kg to ₹158 per kg in Karachi, said Rauf Ibrahim, president of the Karachi Wholesalers Grocers Association (KWGA).
Demand high due to Ramazan
But the ₹10 per kg fall did not hold back retailers from cashing in on the situation, wherein the demand for sugar is on another high due to Ramazan.
Rauf further quipped that the government has failed to ensure that sugar price remains at ₹130 per kg for consumers. He said that only retailers are facing the music, alleging that no serious crackdown has been launched against the millers.
The wholesale rate of sugar has gone back up to ₹168 per kg, with Rauf seeking a probe into the cost of sugar production.
Meanwhile, a Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (Punjab Zone) spokesperson said that had the country not allowed exports, Islamabad's sugar industry would have collapsed.
"Surge in prices are not attributed to exports. At the end of September 2024, the industry had two years of surplus sugar production in the pipeline (approximately 1.2 million tonnes valuing Rs250 billion), which was pledged with banks at a nearly 25pc interest rate. Had the government not allowed the exports, Pakistan’s sugar industry, providing $5bn of import substitution and the world’s cheapest sugar, would have collapsed," he was quoted as saying by The Dawn.
He said that anyway the exports were allowed only after a long delay and after a series of authentication of the huge surplus stocks via government sources.
In June last year, it was reportedly mutually agreed with the Shehbaz Sharif-led government that the ex-mill rate of sugar produced in the 2023-24 season and of the carry-over would remain at ₹140 per kg during export period.
The spokesman said that sugar prices, which are mainly dependent on the rates of sugar canes, are different every crushing season.
He also claimed that the sugarcane growers received a supremely high rates card, up to ₹750 per maund, providing them with better prospects of sugarcane crops in the coming years. So, the spokesman said, that linking the sugar prices to its exports is entirely biased and unjustified.
He also said that sugar prices have also increased due to the influencing market forces through media campaigns by Satta Mafia, hoarders, and Karyana Merchants to earn unreasonable profits, the local media outlet's report mention.
The sugar industry has for the past several years been requesting the government to appoint independent cost auditors so that sugar production's cost can be verified and made more authentic. They have also reportedly urged the government to adopt a two-tier mechanism for determining different sugar prices.
