KARACHI, Feb 20: The first ship carrying around 8,000 tons of Indian sugar berthed at the Port Qasim on Monday and around 4,625 tons of the commodity were immediately released to improve the supply in the domestic market.
Trade sources told Dawn that the ship brought refined sugar of small grain in 235 containers and till late in the evening around 185TEUs were cleared, while the bill of lading of the balance containers were being processed.
Similarly, around 250 to 300TEUs of sugar have been imported from the Gulf countries and Brazil along with other cargo of essential commodities, the sources said.
All these sugar consignments have been imported in small quantities ranging between 25 to 50TEUs each by the individual importers and around 100 containers have bean already released at Port Qasim so far.
The Pakistan Commodity Importers Association (PCIA) chairman Raees Ashraf Tarmohammad told Dawn that the Indian sugar was being sold in the local market at Rs33.50 per kg and hoped that as the arrival of imported sugar gains momentum, the prices will further come down.
The sources further disclosed that a ship loaded with sugar from Brazil is expected to be given berth at Port Qasim on Tuesday, and another Indian ship with 11,000 tons is due on Wednesday.
Mr Raees said that when a delegation of PCIA met Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz early last month, the price of Indian sugar was being quoted at around $400 to $430 per ton and the Brazilian sugar at around $430 to $460 per ton in London market. Consequently, he said it would have been sold at around Rs29.50 per kg in the local market.
However, he said with the entry of Pakistani sugar importers and Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) in the world sugar market, prices spurt to $465- $470 per ton for the Brazilian quality which is of large grain and is white refined sugar.
As a result of hike in world prices imported sugar form India is now being sold at Rs33.50 per kg and sugar imported from the Gulf countries and Brazil is being sold at around Rs35.25 per kg in the domestic market.
The PCIA chairman, however, said that the world sugar prices have now started to come down after rising up to $480 to $485 per ton and are being quoted in the range of $471 to $478 per ton. As a result of this, he said that importers have also slowed down their bookings.
Mr Raees said that the bulk of imported sugar is expected to reach the country by end of next month and hoped that it will greatly help to check the rising price of this essential commodity.
There is a strong move on part of the provincial government to crackdown on sugar mills and stockists to ensure availability of maximum quantity of sugar in the open market to help check the rising trend in sugar prices.
However, the prime minister has assured importers that they would not be taken to such a task to disclose their stocks but they have to maintain their records to prove that their stocks belong to imported sugar and not of locally produced sugar.