ISLAMABAD, March 8: The Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) has again sought the commerce minister’s help to speed up procurement of 200,000 tons of sugar for the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP).

Early completion of the transaction, agreed upon by the PSMA and the TCP last month, was necessary to save the industry and the growers from economic crunch, said the PSMA’s secretary- general, K. Ali Qazilbash, in a letter to Commerce Minister Razak Dawood.

Mr Qazilbash said the millers were struggling very hard under the unbearable burden of arrears that they had to pay to financial institutions and growers.

He reminded the minister that by the end of March, PSMA’s stock position was projected to be two million tons, with stuck-up costs amounting to Rs40 billion.

The PSMA chairman, Ashraf Tabani, held a meeting with the minister on January 15 to discuss the situation.

Subsequent to the meeting, a delegation of the Association met the TCP chief to draw up modalities for the procurement of 200,000 tons of sugar.

The association said it submitted details to the TCP chairman through a letter dated January 30 regarding the transaction. “But, we have not received any response to the discussion on January 29,” Mr Qazilbash said.

Struggling to cover their stuck-up capital to pay the growers and to repay their loans, the millers have approached the minister to help expedite the transaction.