KARACHI, April 20: Higher domestic prices and a larger sown area have rekindled hopes of a bumper Pakistan sugarcane harvest of over 50 million tons in the 2006-07 crop year, industry and the government officials said on Thursday.

Pakistani farm officials estimate that the area under sugarcane cultivation has risen by 8.7 per cent to around one million hectares (2.5m acres) against 920,000 hectares in the previous crop.

“The cultivation target was initially put at 960,000 hectares, but higher returns during the last season encouraged farmers to grow cane on a bigger area,” an agriculture ministry official, who requested anonymity, said.

The sugarcane harvest fell last season to 44 million tons because of low rainfall and the loss of sugar-growing land to cotton. Around 10 per cent of the total harvest in Punjab was also damaged by frost.

But last year, sugarcane became the most profitable crop in the country, as shortages pushed prices to an all-time high of Rs120 per 40 kg, almost double the government’s fixed price.

The official said the sowing was completed on time and moderate winter rains had also improved the availability of irrigation water for the water-intensive crop.

Industry officials said refined sugar output is expected to rise in the 2006-07 crop year to between 3.3 million and 3.5 million tons from a year-earlier 2.6 million tons. Demand is around 3.9 million tons.

The country would need to import 250,000-350,000 tons of sugar by the end of calendar 2006 to fill a supply gap and avoid price spikes, said a Lahore-based sugar mill owner.—Reuters