08 October 2004	Friday	22 Shaban 1425

LAHORE, Oct 7: The Pakistan Sugar Mills Association on Thursday decided not to start early crushing and threatened a countrywide boycott in the event of arrest of any owner in Sindh for failure to start crushing by Oct 15.

The decisions were taken at the annual general meeting of the association held here with outgoing chairman Sikandar M. Khan in chair. Owners were of the view that early start of crushing would result in low production. Early crushing was also not advisable because the total crop yield was lower this year.

They criticized the threatening attitude of the Sindh government which had fixed the sugarcane procurement price at Rs43 per 40 kg and was insisting on starting crushing by Oct 15. They said the whole industry would resort to collective boycott of crushing if an owner was arrested in Sindh for not starting crushing by deadline.

They also criticized the federal government for its decision to release 50,000 tons of 300,000 tons of sugar procured by it earlier for stabilizing the market and enabling them to make payments to the growers. They claimed that the release of sugar had destabilized the market.

Newly elected chairman Zaka Ashraf was asked to hold meetings with the Sindh chief minister and prime minister to apprise them of the concern of the industry over the pressure for starting early crushing and the decision to release 50,000 tons of sugar.