ISLAMABAD : Nov 17,2022:. Indecisiveness of Shahbaz government in sugar export case has started to bite sugar sector as a whole , in particular , to the farmers as industrialists have declined to start crushing season 2022-23 without export of surplus sugar of over 1.2 million tons.
Sources confided to NEWSMAN on Thursday that the sugar industry has formally.conveyed to the authorities that with over 2 millions tons stock of sugar in hand , it can not afford to go into fresh crushing .
“The industry has written a letter to the concerned federal and provincial departments informing them of its unavailability for a fresh crushing season without export of one million tons of sugar”, industry sources said .
Usually , in Pakistan crushing starts in mid of November and the farmers after selling sugarcane crop utilise some land for wheat sowing.
The official estimates suggest that delay in crushing season will result in less wheat sowing and aubseqent less wheat production in three to four million tons.
The entire cycle suggests that all players of the sugar sector are interlinked and if the chain disturbs at any point it hurts the whole sector.
The industry is demanding export of surplus sugar for months and they were cautioning the government of fallout in case of delay or ban on export of surplus sugar .
There are serious repercussions of ignoring industry’s demand for exporting surplus sugar stocks.
First of all Pakistan lost an opportunity to earn $ 1 billion plus which could be bagged from export of only one million tons of sugar . But Shahbaz government made a political decision for not export of sugar and Pakistan paid its price.
Pakistan is begging for each dollar and at the same time facing risk of default on its international obligations . In such a scenario , losing opportunity of getting $ 1 billion plus for mere petty politics is like a criminal act.
Second , now its growers’ turn to pay for indecisiveness of the government. In the case of inordinate delay in commencement of the crushing season , the farmers will not get timely and good price of their crop and subsequently they will suffer huge financial loss. The growers, according to official statistics , get around Rs 300 billion for their sugarcane crop per year. They may lose this earning this year Third, there will be less land available for wheat sowing and it will result in less wheat production that would increase dependency on import of the commodity . More import of wheat would simply mean waste of much-needed forex exchange .
Will Mr prime minister think for a moment why he was doing politics on an issue which can easily earn $ 1 billion plus from export of surplus sugar ? Will he keep ignoring the industry ‘s demand and ditch the growers whose earning of Rs 300 billion from sugarcane crop is at stake?