March 6, 2003	Thursday	Muharram 2, 1424

KARACHI, March 5: Sugar mills in Sindh plan to shut their boilers early April to bring the current crushing season to an end with an estimated production of around one million tons, industry sources said.

These sources said that so far little over 0.6 million tons refined white sugar have been produced by the mills in Sindh and another 0.4 million tons sugar is expected by the end of the season.

The Sindh province consumes around 0.7m tons of sugar and the balance is either used to meet the deficit of other provinces, especially Balochistan and NWFP or exported. The province of Punjab produces enough sugar to meet its own consumption demand.

With large carry over stocks the sugar mills in Sindh seek early exports through TCP.

The chairman, Pakistan Sugar Mills Association, Ashraf W. Tabani told Dawn the sugar industry in Sindh is in turmoil because it is still getting less price for the produce as against the input cost.

He said by the end of this month the exact production figure will emerge but the industry is estimating the total production would stand between 950,000 tons to one million tons.

Tabani urged the government to allow the TCP to export around 0.3 to 0.4 million tons and only then the Sindh industry would be bailed out of the current financial crisis.