To safeguard the interest of growers, the provincial governments fix the minimum support price of sugarcane — which has never gone well with the sugar industry.
The industry insists that the government should either regulate or deregulate the mechanism for fixing the price of sugarcane and of refiled sugar. By fixing or controlling the price of both items, the industry says it is put at a disadvantage, and this often results in delaying of payments to growers.
To increase productivity, the industry’s representatives say the sugar mills have undertaken value-addition by converting molasses into ethanol. There was a time when Pakistan used to export molasses at throwaway prices, fetching no more than $50-$80 per tonne. But the country now earns huge foreign exchange by exporting ethanol, which fetches around $800-$850 per tonne.
The industry claims that its units are upgrading their systems to keep operations efficient and cost-effective. However, they blame successive governments for not introducing crop management practices to growers to enhance per acre yield, which is among the lowest in the region.
Pakistan, with its huge foreign debt, is not allowed by international lending agencies to give subsidy to any sector, including agriculture, and this has made most of our commodities uncompetitive. Another major factor which makes Pakistani sugarcane and other crops costlier than India’s is the high cost of input, including that of fertiliser and pesticides.
