LAHORE, Aug 30: The local sugar producers obtained a court order on Thursday barring customs authorities from releasing the Indian sugar for the domestic market.
The action came a day after the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research cleared the imported stuff fit for human consumption.
In spite of a favourable court ruling the ex-mill sugar price dropped to Rs27 per kg from Wednesday’s rate of Rs27.40 when the market opened after a day’s closure on account of Shab-i-Barat.
A Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) spokesman told reporters later in the day that a senior civil judge had restrained the customs authorities from releasing the imported sugar till the decision of the case.
The sugar industry maintains that the imported sweetener is injurious to human health.
The PSMA had filed a civil suit against the importers, PCSIR, ministry for food, agriculture and Livestock (Minfal)), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Lahore Collector of Customs for restraining the importers from violating the trade policy and marketing the substandard and injurious-to-health sugar lying at the railway godowns.
He said the court had issued the stay order in the case and instructed the importers not to sell Indian sugar in the local market because of alleged hazards to public health and safety. On the order of the court railway godowns have been sealed, he added.
Sugar importer Rana Ayub confirmed that the customs authorities had not released Indian sweetener as was expected by him.
The customs authorities were waiting for the result of another quality test on the samples of the imported sugar sent to the Pakistan Standards Institute (PSI) in Karachi before releasing the product when the local manufacturers obtained the stay order, a visibly disturbed Rana Ayub told this reporter by telephone. Traders have so far imported 2,400 tons of sweetener from India at the rate cheaper than local price via Wagha. Another consignment of 7,500 tons of the Indian product is expected to arrive over the next few weeks, according to the traders.
The imported product was held back by the customs authorities on reaching here last weekend in view of allegations of the local industry that the product contained high sulphur content and was unfit for human consumption. Subsequently, the samples of the Indian product were sent to the PCSIR for laboratory tests in accordance with the Pakistan Standards Institute (PSI) standards. The PSI is yet to give its report.
Indian sugar is said to have cost importers Rs26 to Rs26.50 per kg, and they expect to market it at a cheaper rate than the local product.