The meeting of the Sugar Advisory Board (SAB) was held under the chair of Federal Minister for Industries and Production, Rana Tanveer Hussain. The meeting was also attended by Federal Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan and other stakeholders including Pakistan Sugar Mills Associations (PSMA), Kissan Itihad and Provincial representatives. The agenda of the meeting was to discuss and review the sugar stock availability, current market prices, sugarcane rates, present global market sugar prices, and industry production cost. The meeting was informed that this year total sugar production was 6.8 million tons while the country has also 0.7 million tons of carryover stock of sugar of past year. The country’s annual refined sugar requirement stands at 6 million tons. Sugar mills at present have around 4.5 million tons of sugar in stocks. Rana Tanveer Hussain said that the government would take decision on export of sugar in consultation with all the relevant departments, saying protection of the domestic consumers was the prime responsibility of the government. He further remarked that in case the relevant departments are allowing sugar export the industry will have to ensure domestic price stability. During the meeting, the representatives of the PSMA informed the government officials that Pakistan at present has around 1.5 million tons of additional sugar, which should be exported. Federal Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain reiterated that increase in sugar prices directly impact the public at large. We should first meet local demand of sugar before considering export option to earn foreign reserves. Any decision on export would be taken after through consultation with relevant departments? *****
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