KARACHI, July 10: Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (Sindh Zone) on Thursday blamed the provincial government for the sugar industry woes and threatened not to run boilers for the new crushing season (2003-04) starting from November 1, if corrective measures were not taken.

The Sindh Zone chairman Shunaid Qureshi, briefing newsmen about operational difficulties in Sindh, demanded level-playing field for the industry.

He urged the federal and provincial governments to immediately come up with a rescue plan for the Sindh sugar industry. He said the industry had suffered unprecedented revenue losses during last two consecutive seasons (2001-02 and 2002-03). He said the industry was not in a position to pay sugarcane support price at Rs43 per 40 kgs and dubious nature of quality premium notified by the Sindh government.

He said sugarcane price by the sugar industry would ipso facto be Rs40 per 40 kgs for 2002-03 season, which would be deemed as total and final and the Sindh government, if desires, should pay the balance to sugarcane growers.

He demanded withdrawal of quality premium for 2002- 03 season or the Sindh government might pay it to cane farmers. Interest payment by the sugar industry on pledge and hypothecation of sugar stocks be recalculated at an effective rate of six per cent, and due adjustment on mark-up liability be provided, he added.

The PSMA (SZ) chief also demanded that sales tax refund at eight per cent be allowed to Sindh sugar industry and adjustment be permitted towards its liability in fulfilment of the promise to bring sales tax rate at 10 per cent.

He said surplus sugar of Sindh mills be picked up at cost plus basis by the federal or provincial government for export or retaining as strategic stock.

For the past two seasons, he said, the Sindh government had been notifying sugarcane support price in isolation at Rs43 per 40 kgs, contrary to the federal government’s advice for Rs42 per 40 kgs, while the Punjab government in categorical support to its sugar industry notified support price at Rs40 per 40 kgs against federal government’s advised price of Rs41.

Therefore, Sindh sugarcane support price was pitched higher by Rs3 per 40 kgs for the last two seasons.

Similarly, he said the Sindh government had been notifying quality premium at 50 paisa per 40 kgs of sugarcane per 0.1 per cent incremental sugar recovery over 9.7 per cent. Similar quality premium rate had not been operational in Punjab since 1995.

As a result, Mr Shunaid said, the sugar industry in Sindh had been put at a great economic disadvantage by high cost of sugar production due to relatively high pitched sugarcane price and mechanism of quality premium being implemented with rigours in Sindh. This has led to colossal losses to Sindh sugar industry, he asserted.