The Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR)  has predicted an increase of 15-20 lac tonnes in sugar production in the coming crushing season citing better growth of sugarcane crop due to monsoon rains. A Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) spokesperson said on Thursday that the country would have 12 lac tonnes of sugar at the start of the next crushing season. Sugar mills produced a total of 12 lac tonnes of excess sugar in the last season, they added. FBR said that the monsoon rains have caused a growth of 10 % in the sugarcane crops this season, which will result in increased sugar production.

People will have to bear the burden of the excess production if the government does not export the sugar, they added. The spokesperson added that $1 billion could have been earned if the government had not decided to ban sugar export. On July 30, the federal government retained the export ban on sugar despite having a surplus stock of 1.2 million tons. After lifting the export ban on sugar, the government could formulate a strategy to export the surplus stocks in phases to inject over $1 billion into the national exchequer. It was suggested to the government to allow mills for exporting 500,000 tons of sugar in the first phase.

Credit:
Independent News Pakistan-INP