KARACHI, Nov 27: Sindh sugar mills are going to stop cane crushing from mid-night of December 2, 2004, for a period of 20 days to get availability of labour and sugarcane supply improved.

The decision was taken on Saturday by the representatives of sugar mills in a meeting held in the office of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association, Sindh zone.

It was observed that sugarcane harvesting in Sindh has been exceptionally low since the new crushing season has got under way at the beginning of this month.

The mills were badly experiencing short supply of sugarcane due to non-availability of labour pre-occupied in picking of cotton, harvest of paddy and sowing of wheat. As a result, sugar mills were running into heavy losses, the participants of the meeting noted.

Faced with such a difficult situation, all the sugar mills representatives decided to close sugarcane crushing from the mid-night of December 2, 2004 for about 20 days.