ISLAMABAD: The government had announced in recent past that sugar will be available to the consumers at Rs 80 , but its announcement proved a nausty joke as the commodity price has gone up to Rs 110 a kg.
Market survey conducted by NEWSMAN suggests that now ex- mill price of sugar is ranging between Rs 91 to 92 in different provinces and it was being sold to the consumers at retail level at Rs 110 a kg.
The government used a court decision which had directed the authorities to ensure that the consumers get sugar at official rate of Rs 80 per kg.
The government decision of fixing sugar rate at Rs 80 per kg had come unilaterally. The authorities worked out sugar cost and retail price without taking the millers’ input and submitted the same working to the Lahore High Court (LHC) which ordered to ensure supply of the commodity to the buyers at Rs 80.
The entire official working proved a futile exercise when the millers declined to sell sugar stocks in the market at government rate.
The millers arguement in this case make sense that they can not sell commodity to the dealers at official rate which, in their views, was even less than their input cost.
A miller spoke to this scribe anonyously. He said the government of Pakistan Tehreek – e – Insaf (PTI) is taking all decisions on sugar sector in isolation and how it could be workable?.
“We purchased sugarcane in the last season at Rs 200 on average per maund and crushed it to earn some profit and how it is possible to sell the commodity at a price which even does not meet our input cost”, the miller questioned.
Input cost of sugar is a chronic issue. It has been a thorney issue for decades. The governments came and retired, but this controversy remained in place. Every government and indusrty stood apart on the issue. There had been debates and discusions at different levels in almost every rule but none could take both stakeholders to an understanding which could ensure a win- win situation for all stakeholders, in particular, for the consumers.
The PTI government should take the issue in hand seriously and sit with the millers’ representatives seriously to workout factual cost of production of sugar and then make a workable formula so that the consumers get the commodity at some reasonable rate.
The future formula should fix profit/ margin of dealers also who always take undue advantage of the market factors and play a role in making the commodity costlier.