The Sindh government yesterday failed to resolve the sugar price dispute between growers and millers as both sides were rigidly inflexibility.
At a meeting held in the Sindh Secretariat under the chairmanship of Minister for Agriculture, Ali Nawaz Mehar, the mills owners said that they would not start crushing unless sugarcane price is fixed at Rs150 per 40kg which matches the current sugar price at Rs49 per kg.
They further stated that if government wants them to start production, it should subsidise the current sugar price by Rs16 per kg.
The minimum cane purchase price has been fixed by the government at Rs182 per 40kgs.
Nabi Bukhsh of the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture told the meeting that growers would not accept any reduction in the cane price fixed by the government.
He estimated the per acre cost of production at Rs112,000 while the income comes to Rs106,000 per acre.
The minister asked the mills owners to start crushing while the government would work out price of sugar that really matches the cane price.
The Sindh High Court had also directed the mill owners to start crushing while it gave two days to the Sindh government to fix the price of sugar.
