KARACHI, Oct 13: Cane growers and sugar mill owners have once again locked horns over issues related to the start of crushing and fixing of minimum price for 2012-13.

The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture and Sindh Abadgar Board had suggested that crushing begins from November 1 and set a minimum price of Rs200 per maund (40kg). However, the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) Sindh chapter had a different view. It linked the start of operation by mills to the permission for export of one million tons of sugar by the government.

At present the permission is for export of 0.2 million tons.

Crucial issues were discussed at a joint meeting of the growers and sugar mills here last week under the chair of Secretary Agriculture Agha Jan Akhtar.

Giving details of the meeting, Sindh Chamber of Agriculture general secretary Nabi Baksh Sathio said: “The growers had suggested October 15 for the start of the season. However, the mill owners maintain that they already have 1.6 million tons of sugar lying in stocks and unless that stock is cleared through more export permits, they won’t be in a position to start mills.”

The growers countered the stocks claims presented by the mills and said that they had only 0.8 to 0.9 million tons in stocks and the rest has been sold to the brokers.

According to government estimates, the cane crop would be 25 per cent higher than last year as the area under sowing is 263,000 hectares against 251,000 hectares last year.

The growers however rejected the cane production estimates and said that the crop suffered losses due to the late arrival of water as well as ban on sowing of three cane varieties which has reduced production by at least 25 per cent.Sathio pointed out that along with the cut in cane production, the number of sugar mills in the province has increased to 34 from 31 earlier as three new mills would come in production at Tando Allahyar, Chambarh and Benazirabad districts. The higher number of mills will require more cane for crushing, he added.

He said that if the crushing season was delayed, the sowing of wheat would be late which would be a big loss to the national economy.

The meeting also discussed the fixing of the minimum purchase price for cane for the new season. The growers demanded Rs200 per 40 kg as the minimum price against Rs154 fixed last year.

The mills representatives said the higher cane price suggested by the growers would not be feasible even if they sell sugar at Rs130 per kg.