LAHORE: The Punjab Food Department has estimated that the mills owners have pocketed more than Rs15 billion following the suspension of the notified sugar price on May 4, 2023, said a senior official here on Friday.
“According to an estimate, the sugar mills have charged more than 15 billion rupees additionally from the people after the suspension of the price notification, and if the injunction remains in force until September, it is feared that the masses would be deprived of 35 billion rupees,” the official said.
In view of the ever-increasing prices of sugar and the growing concern among the public, the federal government had fixed the sugar price at around Rs98 per kg in April this year, keeping in view the cost of production of sugar.
However, the sugar mills filed a writ petition in the Lahore High Court, and the court suspended the notification of the sugar price determination on May 4, 2023. The Punjab government and the centre followed the case closely, but since May, the stay order has been in place and the next date has been set for September.
The official alleged that sugar mills had increased the price of sugar from Rs98 per kg to around Rs130 per kg while taking advantage of this injunction. Moreover, due to the suspension of the price notification, the Punjab Supply Chain Management Order has also been suspended. The legal team comprising lawyers of the centre and Punjab have filed appeals, but the stay order has not yet been withdrawn, due to which the government can neither fix the price of sugar nor stabilise the supply of the required quantity of sugar, he added.
Against this backdrop, the official said, sugar mills owners are ethically bound to avoid undue profiteering.
When contacted, one of the members of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association’s (PSMA) media team, unofficially expressed his inability on Friday night to respond to allegations levelled by the food department. “It is too late to offer any comment on such issues,” he said when his attention was drawn to the food department’s assessment about the sugar price hike and its impact on end-consumers.
Javed Kayani, one of the most active and senior members of the PSMA, said he is not an officer-bearer of the association nowadays; therefore, he does not deem it appropriate to offer any comment.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that a delegation of the PSMA attended a meeting of the sugar advisory board in the provincial metropolis, where government functionaries were also present. On the other hand, a sugar dealer held the view that the price of the commodity should not be a concern this time of year keeping in view very high international prices of the sweetener, coupled with its huge demand in the western neighbourhood through porous borders.
