May 21, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 22, 1427

KARACHI, May 20: The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) on Saturday purchased 115,000 tons of white sugar at $506 per ton and another 50,000 tons at $504 per ton C&F Karachi, a company official said.

TCP chairman Asif Zaman Ansari said the firm bought sugar from three different foreign suppliers, including two Indian companies.

TCP had issued the import tender on May 11.

Ansari said TCP awarded supply contracts for 100,000 tons to Dubai-based Al Khaleej Sugar Company, at $506 per ton and $504 per ton for a quantity of 50,000 tons each.

“Two Indian firms will supply 40,000 tons and 25,000 tons each at $506 per ton,” Ansari told Reuters.

He said both the Indian suppliers initially quoted a price of $514.5 per ton, but after negotiations they agreed to cut the price.

The suppliers were expected to deliver the shipments within four weeks of the opening of letters of credit.

The corporation has been regularly buying sugar from the international market after a government estimate that Pakistan would need at least 800,000 tons of imports in 2006 to meet domestic demand.

TCP has so far bought 550,000 tons of refined sugar from worldwide sources through eight previous tenders, and another tender of 50,000 tons is due on May 27.

The country’s sugar output has declined to 2.6 million tons this production year from 3.2 million tons the previous year, as farmers switched to crops with higher returns. The annual domestic consumption is 3.8 million tons.

Ansari earlier told Reuters the corporation would stick to a policy of issuing an import tender every week despite sizzling global prices.—Reuters