ISLAMABAD, Feb 2: Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) Sikandar Hayat Bosan here on Wednesday said the government was ready to take action against a number of sugar mills in Sindh for presenting inaccurate production figures, one of the causes of increase in price of sugar.

Mr Bosan, who was speaking at a news conference, said some mills were hiding their exact production figures from government. "If the mills produce 5000 tons of sugar, they show the figure of 3000 tons," he said.

The government, he said, had warned all the mills and the provincial and federal departments concerned that strict action would be taken to check the practice. Sugar per kilogramme has jumped from the previous Rs20/21 to Rs27 since Eid holidays and consumers across the country are fearing further upsurge in the rate of the commodity at a time when the sugar production season is in full swing in all the provinces.

The government's move to import 200,000 tons raw sugar was also criticised by media persons, because they said it was a general impression that the landed cost of that raw sugar was Rs 25 kg. Besides, the government should have floated the stock of Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) or imported sugar.

In response to a query, Mr Bosan said the price of sugar per kg would be brought down to Rs22/23 from the present Rs 27 during the period of one month. However, the minister did not explain the mechanism through which he would bring down the price of the commodity. The minister also dispelled the impression that Pakistan wanted to export 50,000 tons wheat from India to meet the growing demand at home.

LIVESTOCK POLICY: Mr Bosan said the new livestock policy would soon be finalized and in this regard the government was about to start consultations with some banks from next week. A meeting would also soon be held with Governor State Bank Ishrat Hussain.

COTTON: There had been a 3.3 per cent increase in the production of cotton as compared to last year, the minister said. Pakistan's growth rate in cotton was 45 per cent as compared to 8 per cent in India, 20 per cent in US and 28 per cent in China.