HYDERABAD, May 4: Former chairman of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association and managing-director of the Al-Abbas group of industries, Mr Shunaid Qureshi, has said that the sugar crisis will persist for some more years.

He called upon the government to take concrete steps to resuscitate the sugar industry by reducing sales tax, rationalising rates of raw material and sugarcane. He was speaking at a lecture programme on the “Pakistan sugar industry” on Tuesday.

The programme was organized by the Institute of Business Administration of the University of Sindh.

The vice-chancellor of the Isra University, Dr Asadullah Kazi, presided over the function.

Mr Qureshi interlinked the sugar crisis with an inordinate increase in prices of oil, shortage of water and population explosion.

He said the government had imported a sizeable quantity of sugar to overcome the crisis which was being provided to consumers at subsidized rates.

He said the government was maintaining full control over the sugar industry and raw material accounted for 70 to 80 per cent of the total cost of production.

He said that the mill-owners had submitted long-term and short-term solutions to the government to overcome the sugar crisis. He opposed the zoning system in Sindh and favoured uniformity of support price in all provinces.

He linked the price of sugar with the international market and said that high price of sugar had nothing to do with the delay in the crushing season in Sindh.

He said the increase in production of sugarcane in Punjab was due to availability of 70 per cent underground sweet water whereas in Sindh the underground water was brackish.

In his view, a lot of water was being wasted due to mismanagement. He said that out of 78 sugar mills of the country, 71 were operational.

He said the consumption of sugar in Pakistan was 3.9 million tons and to meet the shortfall, the import cost would come to one billion dollars per annum which Pakistan could ill afford.

He said that sugar being a food item, should be exempted from sales tax.

Mr Qureshi underlined the need of liaison between the industry and universities for resolving industrial problems.

Dr Asadullah Qazi said that the agriculture was the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and that it accounts far 25 per cent of the GDP.

He said that the sugar recovery in Pakistan from the sugarcane was only 9 per cent when compared to other major sugarcane producing countries where the sugar recovery was 12 to 14 per cent at the average.

He said that normally Pakistan’s production of sugar was more than its total consumption yet it was often faced with artificial shortage due to fluctuation in demand and supply.