ISLAMABAD, Oct 19: The sugarcane crushing season is likely to be delayed in the three sugar producing provinces as the government has refused to accept the demands of the sugar mill owners regarding increase in the per kilogramme price of its buffer stock of sugar and decrease in the purchasing rates of sugarcane.
The crushing cannot begin on Oct 20 in Sindh and on Nov 1 in Punjab and the NWFP as a crucial meeting between the Agriculture Ministry and Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) ended here on Tuesday on a dismal note after the mill owners alleged the government of breaching its "commitment".
If the sugarcane crushing is started on time in all the three provinces, as demanded by the government, the wheat sowing season would be delayed. And, a delay in the sowing of wheat means that the production target of 20.15 million tonnes for Rabbi season set by the government could not be achieved and the country could face a loss of over one million tonnes of the commodity.
Soon after the inconclusive meeting, PSMA's representatives, Abdul Wajid and Umar Saeed, told reporters that it was not economically viable for mill owners to start the crushing activities from Oct 20 in Sindh and Nov 1 in Punjab and the NWFP, because the government "has not fulfilled its commitment".
Elaborating, they said, the government had not fulfilled its promise of decreasing the price of sugarcane from the existing Rs43 per 40 kg. Similarly, they said, the government was not compromising on selling its 200,000 tonnes buffer stock of sugar on Rs20 per kg and was still selling it on Rs19 per kg, while it was not economically viable for the mill owners to sell the commodity in the presence of the government's stock.
Besides, they claimed, the sugarcane crop was not yet mature in the three provinces and that they could fire boilers from November, but could not start crushing.
Similarly, the mills association members said during Eid holidays they would be short of labourers owing to which crushing would be impossible.
Minister for Food Agriculture and Livestock Sikandar Hayat Bosan, however, remained firm and asked the mill owners to start crushing as per the deadline given by the government in a bid to avert colossal wheat production loss.
He said the federal government had not made any commitment to the mill owners regarding reduction in both sugarcane prices or the selling the buffer stock of sugar by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) on increased rates. Fixing rates of sugarcane, he said, was a provincial matter and the owners should sort that out with their respective provincial governments if the latter had made any commitment with them in this regard.
The Economic Coordination Committee which fixed prices, he said, did not come under any provincial government.
In response to a query, he said, the mill owners had resorted to delaying tactics. He said the mills would not be short of labourers during Eid holidays, because, the labourers were not working on daily wages but had already signed working contracts with the mills.
If the mill owners do not comply with the government's demand, the delayed sugar cane crushing could cast disastrous impacts on production of wheat in the three provinces. Officials are of the view that if wheat sowing did not start in November it could lead to a production loss of 20 kilogrammes of wheat per acre yield per day.
For this year, the government has estimated sowing of wheat on 8.2 million hectares of land across the country of which a big chunk is being occupied by sugar cane crop. Some officials are already desperate about attainment of targeted production of 20.15 million tonnes due to water shortage of 40 per cent projected for Rabbi crop by Indus River System Authority. Many still believe that government would have to import wheat this year as well.
Earlier, the government had asked millers in Sindh to start crushing from Oct 15, which could not be started due to multiple reasons. Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim had extended the deadline to Oct 20 after holding a meeting with office-bearers of the PSMA.