The Sindh government offered yesterday to reduce the minimum purchase price of sugarcane to around Rs168 and Rs170, down from its current price of Rs182 per 40kg for the crushing season 2014-15, with the cravat that both the sugar mills owners and growers agree upon it.
The suggestion was made before a two-judge Supreme Court bench by Sindh Advocate General Fateh Malik. Headed by Justice Saqib Nisar, the bench had taken up an appeal instituted by 19 sugar mill owners from Sindh, challenging the Dec 30, 2014 Sindh High Court verdict that had rejected the mill owners’ request and allowed the government to fix the purchase price at Rs182 per 40kg after cancelling the earlier determination of Rs155.
Though the Supreme Court granted the mill owners leave to appeal against the high court judgment, it asked both growers and mill owners to consider the provincial government’s offer and respond by the second week of February.
In Nov 2014, the Sindh government had fixed the minimum purchase price of sugarcane at Rs182 per 40 kg for the crushing season 2014-15, starting from Nov 14 last year. The minimum price had been Rs172 per 40kg for the last two years, but the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB), represented by the growers, had demanded the price be fixed at Rs210. The sugar mills, however, opposed the idea and insisted that it should be maintained at last season’s level of Rs172.
The court, was of the view that the government should develop some parameters or guidelines for fixing the purchase price of sugarcane and all stakeholders, including the growers, should know in advance what factors determined purchase prices.
