Islamabad: A subcommittee meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee was held under the chairmanship of Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, in which a detailed briefing was given on the issues of sugar export and import.
Officials of the Ministry of Industries and Production said that the decision to export sugar was taken by the federal cabinet and it was taken on the basis of data provided by the Sugar Advisory Board, Cane Commissioner and Sugar Mills Association. It was further said that the FBR’s Track and Trace system also validated this decision.
FBR officials informed the meeting that the complete record of production of 79 sugar mills of the country is available in their system and this system is also considered reliable at the international level. According to them, 750,000 tonnes of sugar were exported last fiscal year while 250,000 metric tonnes were imported, which does not fall under the category of any harmful transaction.
The Ministry of Food Security told the committee that domestic sugar prices were higher than the global market for seven years in the last ten years. Officials explained that only from 2021 to 2024, our prices were relatively low.
In the meeting, the DG of the Competition Commission revealed that inquiries were conducted on the sugar crisis in 2009 and 2019-21, which proved price manipulation by the Sugar Mills Association. According to them, fines of Rs44 billion were imposed on the sugar industry in 2021, however, these decisions were challenged in various courts.
