Trading Corporation of Pakistan on Friday received a lowest bid of Rs46,250 per MT with the highest bid of Rs50,000 per MT for procurement of import of 200,000 tonnes of white sugar. At least 56 bidders from local sugar mills participated in the bidding and offered different quantities of sweetener with different prices, sources at TCP said, after opening of the bid at its Karachi head office. TCP, on Friday had received the lowest bid by almost Rs20 per kilogram against the Rs65 per kg price it received in previous bid, which was scrapped without awarding tender.
The government was also likely to award the tender by Friday night as both committees formed by Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) in Islamabad and tender committee at TCP, were waiting for the award till filing the story. After being two tenders notices scrapped, TCP, on December 15 had issued another gallop tender for procurement of 0.2 million MT sugar from local millers. The tender was issued as per decision of ECC while inviting sealed offer from sugar mills for purchase of 0.2 million MT, white sugar packed in polythene bags and as per the Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) approved standard. Sugar mills, defaulted with TCP, were not eligible to participate in the tender. To create competition and purchase the commodity at lowest rate, TCP had allowed non-members of PSMA to apply for the tender. The corporation has also fixed the upper limits of sugar procurement from a miller at 10,000 MT, against the previous limit of 20,000 MT. The upper limit was also decreased to give maximum space for the small millers.
