HYDERABAD: Neither the official procurement rate of the current season’s sugar cane crop could be fixed nor was a date for the commencement of cane crushing decided at the stakeholders’ recent meeting in Karachi.

It was the first meeting of the Sugarcane Control Board held on Nov 4 which was supposed to be attended by all stakeholders.

The meeting remained inconclusive as sugar millers’ representatives abstained.

Representatives of farmers’ bodies presented their viewpoint on sugar cane indicative price. None from the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) turned up at the meeting.

Haji Nadeem Shah, Vice-President of the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB), expressed the hope that the PSMA would attend the next meeting to be convened shortly.

“Officials from Sindh agriculture research wing calculated a price of Rs545 per 40kg of sugar cane but it was exclusive of agriculture income tax and if the tax is included then this price will reach Rs600 per 40kg,” said Haji Nadeem, a grower from Matiari district.

He said since PSMA’s nominee was not present, no decision could be taken. “We are told that another meeting will be convened by the agriculture minister and it will be attended by millers; and then some decision may be taken,” he said. However, he added, the Matiari sugar mills management had since fired boiler and was likely to start cane crushing by Nov 25.

Usually, the board’s meeting is held to take decisions regarding notification of current sugar cane crop’s procurement price, start of cane crushing season and payment of quality premium to cane growers.

Sindh government had not fixed the procurement price for the previous (2024-25) crop reportedly in order to meet relevant IMF conditions. Wheat’s support price was also not fixed last year, either.

A total of 33 sugar mills, out of 38 in Sindh, had crushed sugar cane last year.

It has been the growers’ argument that the sugar cane crop becomes ready for harvesting in October every year but crushing begins either in November or December. The Sugarcane Factories Act 1950 and its (Sindh Amendment) Act 2009 allows millers to begin cane crushing not later than Nov 30. The government had fixed Rs425 per 40kg in 2023-24.

“We are given an idea that millers will commence sugar cane crushing by Nov 25 to which we argued that government should fix the cane price and ensure crushing on Nov 12 considering the fact that if next board’s meeting is to be held after a fortnight then by that time mills usually start crushing and a price trend starts emerging”, said Nabi Bux Sathio, the Vice President of the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA). He attended meeting along with SCA chief Dr Syed Nadeem Qamar.

In fact, he asserted, a rate of Rs600 / 40kg should be fixed because in 2024 when sugar price stood at Rs125 per kg, and millers procured cane at the rate of Rs600-Rs650. “Today, sugar price is Rs210-Rs220 a kilo with wholesale price being Rs185 per kg thus we say that cane price of Rs600 be fixed by the government as it is binding on the government under Sugarcane Act,” he pleaded. He said that notification of a rate of Rs550 might be acceptable but he felt crushing would be delayed eventually and by that time millers would start procuring cane from growers.

Sindh Abadgar Board President Mahmood Nawaz Shah, however, termed the Nov 4 meeting ‘a non-serious attempt’ by the government. PSMA did not even bother to intimate why none from their association was attending it, he observed. “It shows government’s weak writ and I don’t think that rate is going to be notified for the season although I, in principle, agree to the Rs545 rate calculated by the agriculture research department,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2025