Islamabad : Sufficient sugar stocks available: Minister
ISLAMABAD: Minister for National Food Security Rana Tanveer Hussain assured sufficient sugar stocks, with 6.5 million tons available against an annual consumption of 6.3 million tons. He denied price hikes due to exports, highlighting last year’s surplus. The government set price controls, reducing rates, and ensured affordable sugar availability through stalls and Utility Stores.
ISLAMABAD: Minister for National Food Security and Research (MNFS&R) Rana Tanveer Hussain on Monday said that sufficient sugar stocks are available in the country to meet consumer demand.
“Currently the country has 6.5 million sugar stocks, and total annual consumption of the commodity is 6.3 million tons,” the minister said during a televised address.
He said that this year, six million tons of sugar was produced with carryover stocks of 0.5 million tons from the previous year, bringing the total to 6.5 million tons.
The minister rejected the impression that sugar prices in the country rose due to the export of the commodity last year and said that last year the country had 7.6 million tons of sugar stock while the domestic consumption was 6.3 million tons.
Last year, the total surplus stock was 1.5 million tons, of which, we had exported 700,000 tons of sugar through which the country had earned $ 400 million in foreign exchange.
He also termed reports that sugar is being sold at Rs180 per kg “baseless”.
Following the reports regarding the rise in the prices of sugar in the country, the prime minister has taken notice and constituted a committee headed by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar to determine the price of the commodity.
The committee has fixed ex-mill and retail prices of sugar, he said, adding that following the committee meeting and action taken by the government regarding the matter, prices of sugar come down from Rs168 per kg to 162 in Akbari Mandi.
The minister said that the government, along with PSMA, set up 274 stalls across the country in Ramadan where sugar is available at Rs130 per kg. He said that the commodity is available at Rs153 per kg at the Utility Stores Corporation (USC).
He assured that under no circumstances would the retail sugar price be allowed to exceed Rs164 per kg. He said the federal government would take strict action with the cooperation of provinces if anybody tried to increase the sugar price.
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Source : Business Recorder
