While the Sindh government has recently announced its intent to procure wheat for the 2025-26 season, it seemed indecisive about fixing sugarcane’s rate, apparently in view of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) loan programme conditions. The IMF calls for improving the private-sector business environment by removing state-created distortions, ensuring a level playing field, and streamlining subsidies.

The date for the commencement of sugarcane crushing, however, had been notified by the Sindh agriculture department as November 15. However, reports indicated that several mills had not fired their boilers until November 21. “There are no indications as to what price the mills are going to offer to farmers,” said Zubair Talpur, Sindh Abadgar Ittehad (SAI) President. His sugarcane fields are located in the Umerkot district.

The government didn’t fix sugarcane prices last year. It appears to be in a fix regarding notifying the indicative price of sugarcane, amid farmers’ growing expectations that, since the wheat support price is likely to be announced, sugarcane’s rate should also be notified. The government has argued that the wheat support price will be fixed to support farmers and domestic wheat cultivation, thereby lessening reliance on grain imports.

Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) senior vice president Nabi Bux Sathio has even approached the IMF by way of email, addressed to the IMF’s country head stationed in Islamabad. Mr Sathio has drawn the institution’s attention towards the issues of sugarcane and its producers. He has also requested clarification on whether the IMF has, in fact, restrained federal and provincial governments from fixing sugarcane prices.

Farmers are disappointed about the delay in the crushing season amid the current lack of a sugarcane price

Sugarcane is grown on approximately 790,000 acres in Sindh. The very land was also brought under wheat cultivation by growers, which is why farmers contend that mills should start crushing cane so that its procurement by mills picks up pace. Wheat sowing would also be delayed to a considerable extent if sugarcane harvesting remained pending.

Though the Sindh agriculture department convened a meeting of the Sugarcane Control Board on November 4, no representatives from the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association attended, and the meeting was adjourned without taking any decision regarding a crushing rate or commencement date. It wasn’t until November 19, when the provincial cabinet met, that November 15 was approved as the start date for cane crushing.

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Farmers’ bodies have been demanding a price of Rs600 per 40kg for sugarcane in view of trends surrounding sugar’s retail price in the open market. Mr Sathio mentioned in his email to the IMF chief that by March 2025, the ex-mill rate of sugar started showing an upward trend, and currently the retail price stands at Rs225-Rs230 per kg in major cities across Pakistan. Therefore, one could easily see that the ex-mill price would hover around Rs200 per kg.

The Sindh Agriculture Research department, in view of the increase in input costs, has recommended a price of Rs545 per 40kg

The Sindh Agriculture Research department has calculated sugarcane costs at Rs321,000 an acre against last year’s Rs295,000 — up by Rs26,000. The department, in view of the increase in farmers’ input costs, has recommended to the Sugarcane Control Board a price of Rs545 per 40kg. The department’s Director General of Research, Dr Mazhar Keerio, said that the cane crop remained, by and large, healthy, with growers in Tando Mohammad Khan and Badin districts complaining of weak crops due to the unavailability of irrigation water.

Moreover, sugar millers are a powerful stakeholder in the sugarcane sector, and that’s why it is described as a ‘political crop and industry’ in the country. From the farmers’ viewpoint, sugar factory owners have historically been comfortable dictating their terms at the governmental level regarding price fixation, thus cornering farmers.

The size of sugar factories has grown considerably in the country. Sugarcane — a high delta crop — has encroached upon rich cotton zones in Punjab and Sindh. It is in Rahim Yar Khan, in Punjab’s southern part, with six factories, and in Ghotki, Sindh, on the left bank of the Indus River, where such growth is easily noticeable.

This has left the cotton crop struggling to regain its lost ground. Thirty-eight sugar mills exist in Sindh, and one more is likely to start crushing this season in upper Sindh, bringing the total to 39, provided it begins its trial.

As it stands, the Sugar Factories Control Act (Sindh Amendment) Act 2009 binds sugar factories to commence crushing no later than November 30. In the pre-amended Act, the law’s clause 2(h) calls for the ‘start’ of the crushing season to begin on October 1 in any year and end on June 30.

Now, taking advantage of this legal provision, the millers feel free to delay the crushing season until mid-December, with no one having the courage to question them for the belated commencement of crushing. As growers rush to free their farmland from sugarcane to plant wheat on time, they agree to the rates offered by millers. Wheat sowing in lower Sindh, even otherwise, begins in November and in some pockets by late October.

Since the timely availability of irrigation water for wheat cultivation remains an impediment to growers in many areas, they tend to avoid holding sugarcane crops in the field for an extended period for want of a higher price. Still, they hope that crushing will begin by the fourth week of November, as it is a legal obligation on the millers as well.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, November 24th, 2025