February 26, 2006	Sunday	Muharram 27, 1427

KARACHI, Feb 25: The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) received three bids on Saturday for a tender to import 50,000 tons of white sugar, an official said. The corporation received proposals from Indian suppliers against a tender issued on Feb 6, TCP director Abdul Malik told Reuters.

Mr Malik said the tender result would be announced later in the day, or on Monday.

“We will first evaluate technical aspects of all the received bids and then will open the price bids to avoid any legal issues,” Mr Malik said. “It will take at least seven to eight hours to complete the process.”

He did not give any detail on the price and quantity offered by the Indian suppliers, but said the winning bidder would complete shipment within 15 days of the opening of letters of credit.

Pakistan needs to import 800,000 tons of sugar in 2006 to meet domestic demand. Its sugar production is expected to decline between 2.8 million and 3.0 million tons in the production year that began in November, from 3.2 million tons in the previous year. The country’s annual consumption is 3.8 million tons.

Pakistan removed a four-year ban on imports from India last year. In January it allowed sugar imports from India via land for the first time to alleviate shortages quickly.

—Reuters