KARACHI, Feb 25: The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) said on Tuesday it had issued a tender to sell 12,000 tons of white refined sugar from government-owned stocks next month.

A TCP statement said the deadline for bids would be March 8 and they would be opened on the same day in the presence of bidders.

A senior TCP official told Reuters the corporation had purchased 18,000 tons from 12 local sugar mills for export.

It is the first sugar export tender issued by the TCP following a government decision in December to export at least 300,000 tons of refined sugar in 2003 to reduce surplus stocks.

The decision followed demands from the industry, which has blamed surplus stocks for low domestic prices.

The TCP official said the corporation plans to buy up to 100,000 tons from domestic mills by the end of April for export.

Sugar industry officials say up to 500,000 tons of sugar is stockpiled in the country, an amount set to grow during the current crushing season, which started in November and will end in June.

According to official estimates, the sugar production in the 2002-03 season will touch about 4m tons, leaving a surplus of another half a million tons.—Reuters