KARACHI, May 5: The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) on Friday issued a tender to buy 50,000 tons of refined sugar, with shipment due in July and bids to be submitted on May 19, a company spokesman said.

Only 18 pre-qualified foreign firms would be allowed to participate in the tender, and the winning bidder would have to make shipments within four weeks of the opening of a letter of credit.

Last week, the TCP had issued another tender for the import of a similar quantity of sugar from worldwide sources. Bids for that tender are due on Saturday.

The corporation has been regularly buying sugar from the international market, and the latest is the eighth tender it had issued since February after the government estimated that at least 800,000 tons of imports would be needed in 2006.

Pakistan’s sugar output has declined to 2.6 million tons this year, as farmers switched to crops with higher returns, from 3.2 million tons the previous year.

The TCP bought a total of 325,000 tons of refined sugar in earlier tenders.—Reuters