LAHORE: Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) Chairman Zaka Ashraf on Friday said that he held meeting Prime Minister Imran Khan who assured him that the government would promote free economy of the sugar business in Pakistan.
The PSMA chairman said that if this industry lacks proper functioning then it compels the government to import sugar after spending huge sum of money which the country cannot bear.
For this purpose, the premier has made a high-level committee under the chair of Finance Advisor Shaukat Tarin. The committee includes three federal ministers, federal secretaries, and provincial chief secretaries.
Zaka Ashraf said the finance advisor has also assured that the prices fixed by the governments of Punjab and Sindh shall also remain as national prices.
“The government itself will not indulge in setting the prices of sugarcane and sugar. It will leave the pricing to decide on market mechanism but the government shall maintain strategic reserve stocks and intervene market at appropriate time to supplement the market and to keep the prices at a reasonable level,” he said.
If surplus sugar is produced then government will purchase that sugar and later also allow the sugar mills to export that surplus sugar.
Further, Tarin has also assured us that he will persuade banks for arranging the working capital for the sugar mills so that the mills can timely pay to the farmers. He also stressed us to pay the farmers within 15 to 20 days of the start of crushing season.
Ashraf said the finance advisor also assured us that the sugar industry’s problems related Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) and FBR will be resolved on priority basis.
Moreover, Tarin has also asked federal and provincial secretaries to resolve the issues of sugar industry especially matters related to arrests, registering of FIRs and conducting raids on the sugar mills.
The PSMA chairman said that Tarin has also assured us that he will regularly conduct meetings with the sugar industry officials and will also make efforts to resolve their problems.
