Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has put together a committee led by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, to negotiate with Sugar Mills a reduction in prices following his previous decision to allow export of the product led to 2,200% increase in his export and 19% increase in prices this year.

The price of the sugar per RS1 per KG increase takes RS2.8 billion from consumer pocket, according to the Ministry of Food Safety, which works.

The Prime Minister’s office has informed a committee of 10 members with the mandate of reducing sugar prices by engaging in the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) Association, which works exclusively for Miller’s interests.

The Competition Commission in Pakistan (CCP) has previously investigated PSMA for its role in pricing manipulation. The prime minister also has the portfolio of the Minister of Industry, and the sugar factories are now falling directly under his domain.

The new committee will be chairman of DAR, who is tasked with giving his report within three days. The committee held its first meeting on Monday, according to officials. At the meeting, the government told the sugar workers that the average sugar production price was RS153 per year. Kg, which is why the industry itself had to reduce prices itself.

However, the industry sought time to consult all stakeholders before committing any new price, the officials said.

The prime minister created the DAR-led committee after the average sugar prices jumped after sugar prices rose with RS10 within a week and RS27 compared to last year, according to the National Data Collecting Agency. It also reported that the maximum national price Skyrocket for RS180 per Kg in Karachi and Islamabad.

Prices were also RS27 per Kg higher than the maximum threshold of RS145, which the government had determined at the time of giving permission to export 600,000 tons of sugar.

An official of the Ministry of Food, The Express Pakinomist on Monday told RS1 per year. Kg of increase gave an extra advantage of RS2.8 billion for the mills. At this number, the mills harvested RS26 billion additional benefits in just the last week and RS76 billion since the start of the crushing season.

An important reason behind the increase in sugar prices was Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s decision to allow sugar exports. PBS released the export data on Monday, which revealed that the country exported 757,779 tonnes of sugar from July to February of this financial year.

Compared to the last year, when only 33,101 tonnes of sugar had been exported, there was a 2,190% increase in exports in this financial year, the data showed. With regard to value, exporters earned $ 407 million in the July-February period, which was also $ 386 million or 1,831% higher than the previous financial year, the PBS data showed.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office’s review, the committee will engage in PSMA to negotiate a reduction in the ex-Mill Prize for sugar for the purpose of stabilizing market prices, especially in response to the sharp increase observed under Ramazan.

The committee included Minister of Food Safety Rana Tanveer Hussain, Lawyer Azam Nazeer Tarar, adviser to Prime Minister Dr. Tauqir Shah, special assistant to Prime Minister Tariq Bajwa and four representatives of PSMA. The Secretary of the Industry provided the Secretariat’s support.

The government has not officially included special assistant to Prime Minister of Industries Haroon Akhtar Khan in the committee. Shehbaz instructed the committee to complete its considerations and submit an compliance report within three days, confirming that the issue of rising sugar prices had been decided effectively.

Iskandar Khan, the president of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chapter in PSMA, said prices shot up due to the increase in sugar cane prices in the crushing season. He added that the average sugar cane price remained RS455 per day. 40 kg, which pushed production costs to RS174 per Kg. Khan said that imported raw sugar would also cost RS190 per day. Kg after refining it.

On September 20, ECC allowed 100,000 tonnes of sugar exports, which was increased to 600,000 last October. Express Pakinomist had reported in October that the government allowed the export of an additional 500,000 tonnes of sugar on the basis of massively manipulated numbers of available stocks and consumption patterns.

However, PSMA denies that prices skyrocket due to export. Its spokesman for Punjab Zone stated that the industry agreed that the prices of the ex-billion would remain uncovered to RS140 per year. Kg during the export period, which was below its production costs.

However, due to huge excess stocks, ex-mill prices remained between RS120 to Rs.125 per year. Kg, much under this benchmark, continuously for many months, he added. Almost 50% of the total available sugar was sold much during its production costs causing huge losses to the industry, he added.

The PSMA spokesman said the price mechanism depended on market forces. He accused the price increase of hamsters and profits who spread rumors of influencing market forces for making unnecessary profits on sugar available from them.

The PSMA spokesman stated that no white sugar imports were needed, as domestic warehouses were enough to meet the domestic requirement for the start of the next crushing season. But he added that PSMA approved imports of raw sugar through a political mechanism and had submitted his proposals to a ministerial committee composed of the government.