The Pakistan Sugar Mills Association has blamed the ongoing price hike of sugar on whole sale and retail market players.The PSMA Punjab chapter has said that the investors have entered the sugar trade who were making huge profits by temporarily hoarding sugar stocks.
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”The move sponsored by Satta Mafia, has successfully reversed the mechanism adopted by the government to provide sugar at cheap rates to the low income consumers,” this statement said.The statement by the PSMA said that there was no shortage of sugar in the country, and stocks are ample to satiate consumers’ needs.
The PSMA is being blamed for the massive surge in sugar prices from around Ra120 per kilogram at the start of the season in November 2024 to around Rs180 now.The PSMA has added that the retail and wholesale market forces were manipulating the prices and they were spreading baseless rumours of sugar shortage in Country causing hike in sugar rates. The spokesman added that sugar prices have come down to the benchmark set by the government.
These prices were agreed with the government by the sugar industry in the best interest of consumers for a month till April 19 while at the same time, the sugar industry has made available discounted sugar at Rs 130 per kg for poor masses at 274 established stalls during the holy month of Ramazan. The statement added that the reports of price hike due to exports of the commodity are completely fabricated and baseless.
The sugar industry has urged the government to adopt two-tier mechanism for determining separate sugar prices as 80 percent sugar is consumed by the industrial/commercial sector that includes confectioneries sweets makers and bakeries etc and 20 percent is consumed by the ordinary people through the retailers.
