Price of sugar skyrockets

LAHORE: After flour and vegetable oil, sugar is the next commodity to undergo an increase in prices, with one kilogramme of sugar being sold for Rs 40 in local markets on Saturday.

Stakeholders in the industry have predicted a further increase in price as stocks decrease, adding that the sugarcane crop yield had been low this year, resulting in a shortage.

The price of sugar has increased sharply in the past one-and-a-half month, with prices going from Rs 28-30 per Kg to Rs 38-40 per Kg in retail markets. However, dealers claim that millers have artificially increased prices adding that the increase had nothing to do with the current price hike.

Brown sugar: The Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) has attributed the high sugar prices to an increase in the support price of sugarcane. PSMA Vice-Chairman Iskandar M Khan said that sugar mills have already informed the government about the emerging crisis, adding that the government should ban the export of brown sugar to overcome the crisis. He said that the price of sugarcane should be linked with the sucrose content, allowing farmers to get a better price for their produce.

The price of sugar in international markets has also dramatically surged over the past few weeks, due to the decrease in production. Industry sources have said that a sugar crisis could lead to sugar emerging as a precious commodity in the near future.
source:dailytimes