TCP clarifies ECC directives on sugar price stability

The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has clarified that the federal cabinet reportedly did not assign it responsibility for domestic sugar availability or price stability, according to official documents. The corporation said a Business Recorder report of September 3 gave a wrong impression that the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had directed it to ensure exports of imported sugar would not hurt local supplies or prices. TCP added that the report noted the deletion in its closing section without adequately explaining why the clause was removed.

Citing the Rules of Business, 1973, the corporation stated that stabilising domestic food prices falls to the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, not TCP. The ECC approved a summary from that ministry on permitting sugar exports that TCP had imported, but removed a proposed clause that would have required the corporation to ensure those exports did not affect domestic availability and prices. The federal cabinet has since ratified the ECC decision.

TCP argued that the headline gave a misleading picture, because the decision keeps no such duty with the corporation. The official ECC decision, which Business Recorder said it had seen, reflects a ministry summary dated August 18, 2026. Under the approved decision, the corporation holds no assigned duty for domestic sugar supply or prices.