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Sindh growers show concern about fall in sugarcane price

January 23, 2025

Ahmed Khan Malik

The growers in Sindh have voiced concern over the Rs100 per 40-kilogramme decrease in the sugarcane price, which caused them losses.  They said that millers had already taken advantage of the delay in the issuance of notification to fix the sugarcane price, causing enormous losses to farmers, and now the sugar mills had slowed down the process of crushing, delaying the lifting of the crop from fields. 

The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture has appealed to the provincial government to take notice of the situation as the growers would not receive the price to meet their expenses if millers were bent upon purchasing the sugarcane crop at the lower prices.  “Sugar mills had not given the price, which was notified by the provincial government for sugarcane for the current season,” Zahid Bhargari, General Secretary of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, told WealthPK. 

He said that the sugarcane price has been reduced from Rs475 per 40kg to Rs375, which is injustice to the growers, who are already suffering due to the high cost of inputs like fertilizers, electricity, diesel, etc.  He said that mills presently crushed 50,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day, far below their daily capacity of 200,000 tonnes, which caused the delay in the lifting of the crop from fields to the mills.

“This is deliberately being done to compel the growers to sell the crop at the discounted prices,” he said.  Bhargari said that if the situation persisted, the sugarcane growers would not sow the crop in the next season. He appealed to the provincial government to restore the price of sugarcane so that the growers can get the actual price of their produce.  He demanded that sugarcane crushing should be expedited so that the lifting of the crop from fields is paced up.

Sugarcane is one of the largest high-value cash crops of Sindh. However, payment delay is a persistent feature in the sugar market. The sugar industry, at the beginning of the season, generally makes payments to growers within two weeks as mentioned in the Sugar Factor Control Act, 1950. However, as the season progresses to the end, the payments are delayed by month and, in some cases, by season.  Mills are of the view that this happens due to liquidity problem. 

Manzoor Hussain, director procurement at a sugar mills, told WealthPK that there was no delay on part of the mills to lift the crop, and claimed that such accusations surfaced in the province over the sugarcane price every year.  “For instance, during 2022-23, the crop size was 87.98 million tonnes, an all-time high. However, prices did not decrease significantly, so the complaints regarding delayed or lower payments are not justified,” he pointed out.

Credit: INP-WealthPk