Sikander backs mill owners against sugar price hike

KARACHI: Throwing his support at the back of sugar mill owners against rise in prices, the Chairmen All Pakistan Sugar Mill Owners (APSMO) Sikandar Khan has said Friday the sugar prices would witness stability in local market in case TCP could have imported approximately 12.50 lacks tonnes of sugar on time.

Talking to Geo news, he said sugar imported by TCP is not only sold to Utility Stores but it is also sold in local market.

Sugar Mills Deny Nexus

Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com Sugar Mills Deny Nexus:KARACHI: The Chairman of All Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (APSMA) Askandar Khan said sugar mill owners will unveil the truths in next two weeks and submit the reply of notice issued by Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) within 15 days. He said sugar mills are providing sugar at

Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com Sugar Mills Deny Nexus:KARACHI: The Chairman of All Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (APSMA) Askandar Khan said sugar mill owners will unveil the truths in next two weeks and submit the reply of notice issued by Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) within 15 days.
He said sugar mills are providing sugar at [...]

Supreme Court of Pakistan refuses stay on Rs 40/kg sugar rate

ISLAMABAD Pakistan: Supreme Court of Pakistan has refused to grant stay on Lahore High Court’s verdict of fixing sugar price at Rs 40 per kg, reports www.trendpk.com .

However, the court accepted the pleas by the federal and provincial governments of Sindh, Punjab and NWFP to be the parties in the petitions filed by the Punjab Sugar Dealers Association, Pakistan Sugar Mills Association, Makkah Sugar Mills (Pvt) Ltd, Sheikhoo Sugar Mills (Pvt) Ltd and one Abdul Quddus Malik.

The two-member bench of the Supreme Court – comprises of Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, resumed Thursday the hearing of identical petitions seeking suspension of LHC’s suo motu order of Sept 3 of fixing the sweetener rate at Rs 40 per kg.

The State Bank’s deputy governor, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman and chief secretaries of all four provinces appeared before the bench on court notice.

Deputy Governor SBP informed the court that sugar mills owners’ were in debt of worth Rs 21 billion of various commercial banks of the country.

A report on the investigations into 2006 sugar crisis prepared by the NAB at that time was also presented before the honorable bench which revealed that most of the sugar mills were owned by the key politicians of the country, charging them of creating sugar crisis of 2006 by hoarding the commodity illegally.

CJ Chaudhry during the hearing refused to grant stay on LHC’s verdict, saying that it would be inappropriate to grant any relief at this point of time. He observed that the court is not suspending the sugar rate of Rs 40 per kg and it will remain effective throughout the country.

Rejecting the pleaders’ stance that the crushing of sugar is being hampered by LHC’s verdict that would further dampen the crisis, the CJ observed that no one was restricting the sugar mill owners of crushing the sugarcanes.

The bench ordered the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) to present its report on current sugar crisis on the next hearing set to be held on Oct 1 and adjourned the case till then.

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Supreme Court of Pakistan refuses stay on Rs 40/kg sugar rate was first posted on September 24, 2009 at 4:39 pm.
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Govt Agreed To Ex-Mill Suger Rate

PAKISTAN, ISLAMABAD: The Federal government on Tuesday agreed to Pakistan Sugar Mills Association’s dictated ex-mill sugar price of Rs 48 per kg for Sindh and Rs 49.75 per kg for other provinces after marathon negotiations lasting over more than five hours.

After the meeting, Minister for Industries and Production, Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, who had reportedly sided with the representatives of sugar millers’ also announced that a strong worded letter written by the Secretary Industries for a crackdown on mills to recover hoarded stock was being withdrawn immediately. “I have also requested the provincial governments to release the arrested dealers along with their stock,” Wattoo told journalists who had waited for his talk for at least five hours in the Ministry of Industries corridors.

The Minister was asked how he was projecting the viewpoint of sugar mills which had been termed ’sugar mafia and thieves’ by the federal and provincial government, he parried the question. According to official sources, there was a deadlock in talks between the sugar mills headed by the Acting PSMA Chairman, Javed Kayani, but after the intervention “from the top”, government agreed to a price that was actually dictated by the PSMA.

The minister also failed to respond to some harsh questions of journalists who had worked out that people would be getting sugar at Rs 55 per kg in cities and Rs 60 per kg in far flung areas. Wattoo was of the view that there was no shortage of sugar but its rates had been increased due to international trend. He, however, failed to answer, the question whether the sugar mill owners had purchased sugarcane at international prices.

“Presently 1.2 million tons of sugar is available with the mills and TCP, which means there is no shortage,” he maintained. According to the Minister, TCP is importing 50,000 tons of sugar, in addition to 75,000 tons, which has recently been decided by the ECC. In reply to a question, he said that the landed cost of sugar is about Rs 65 per kg but the government will sell sugar at Rs 38 per kg at utility stores.

He said PSMA had agreed to sell 10,000 tons of sugar to the Punjab government at Rs 40 per kg for Ramzan Bazars , asking other provincial governments to strike similar deals with local sugar associations to provide sugar at cheap rates. Punjab and NWFP governments were asked to release sugar consignments stopped at Rahimyar Khan and Dera Ismail Khan so that there should be no supply issue.

The representatives of sugar mills who were accompanying the Minister at the briefing venue were snubbed by the journalists when one of their top representatives repeatedly ‘dictated’ the Minister. Interestingly, Secretary Industries Shahab Khawaja and Chairman TCP, Saeed Khan, kept themselves away from the minister.

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Govt Agreed To Ex-Mill Suger Rate was first posted on August 19, 2009 at 10:14 am.