Govt allows 200,000 tonnes more sugar export

A steering committee led by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has agreed to let 200,000 metric tonnes of additional sugar be shipped abroad, according to The Express Tribune. The proposal still needs clearance from the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), where a summary is to be placed. This marks the second export approval within three weeks, the earlier one being an ECC decision of August 19 covering 108,000 metric tonnes that were imported.

Dar's office said he was satisfied that current stocks and expected output are adequate for needs extending past the next crushing season. Federal Minister for National Food Security Rana Tanveer Hussain said a surplus of more than 600,000 metric tonnes would remain after requirements are met, with 200,000 tonnes of it exportable subject to ECC approval. The committee has also agreed to develop a mechanism meant to keep prices from rising because of the exports.

According to the newspaper, prices reached Rs220 per kg after last year's export decision and a 15% fall in output, as the ministry admitted before the ECC last month. Sugar now sells at an average of Rs148 per kg, 18% lower than a year ago. The IMF's governance report, released in November last year, had criticised the sector's ties with state regulators and set a condition that the sector be fully liberalised, with a policy due by June this year.