April 20, 2006	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21, 1427

KARACHI, April 19: The Trading Corporation of Pakistan on Wednesday issued a tender to buy 50,000 tons of refined sugar, with shipment due in June and bids to be submitted on April 29, an official said.

The official, requesting anonymity, said 17 foreign firms which had qualified would be allowed to participate and the winning bidder would make shipments within four weeks of the opening of a letter of credit.

“It is the sixth tender since March and we feel that at least three or four more tenders would be issued in the next three or four weeks as we need supplies,” the official said.

The corporation had earlier this week issued another tender for the import of a similar quantity of sugar from worldwide sources. That tender will be opened on April 22.

The TCP has been regularly buying sugar from the international market after a government estimate that the country would need at least 800,000 tons of imports in 2006 to meet domestic demand. Pakistan’s sugar output has declined to 2.8m tons this production year from 3.2m tons the previous year, as farmers switched to crops with higher returns. Pakistan’s annual consumption is 3.8 million tons.

Last week, the TCP bought 50,000 tons of white sugar from an Indian firm and another 25,000 tons from a Singapore-based company at $491 per ton C&F Karachi.—Reuters