I would like to request the ECC or Pakistan Sugar Mills Association or Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to please explain to the people of Pakistan the benefits the country will receive with the export of 500,000 metric tonnes of sugar.
Due to worldwide surplus production of sugar, the international price of sugar has dropped down to 320$ per tonne, that is almost equal to 34 Rs per KG. While in Pakistan we have to pay 54 Rs per KG for sugar. This means that the sugar mills will be selling the sugar at a lower rate than what the citizens of Pakistan pay for sugar and will also be generating a very small amount of foreign exchange for the country.
And to add insult to injury, the Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has also allowed a 25 per cent tax on all imports of sugar, so we the people of Pakistan are not able to get the cheap surplus sugar available from India, Brazil etc.
Every citizen of Pakistan, I included, would like to know why the Government of Pakistan and Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) are colluding together to create a fake monopoly that increases the sugar price for Pakistanis from Rs 32 to Rs 54, a 68 percent increase.
ENGRY SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER
Peshawar