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Sugar production
surpasses target
KARACHI- Indigenous sugar production would surpass the mark of
3.2 million tonnes this year that is slightly above the
requirement of the country, sugar experts predicted.
Till the end of first quarter of the year, sugar mills in the
country have produced 2.891 million tonnes white refined
crystal sugar by crushing 33.317 million tonnes sugarcane,
fortnightly report of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA)
said.
In the corresponding period last year, sugar industry had
produced 2.436 million tonnes white refined crystal sugar by
crushing 29.191 million tonnes sugarcane. The availability of
raw material (sugarcane) to the mills was increased by about
4.126 million tonnes this year as compared to the figures of
the cane crushing of the previous year. Another factor that
helped the sugar industry of the country to produce the better
results was the increase in the rate of recovery of sucrose
from the sugarcane.
The average of the sucrose level of sugarcane in the country
have been recorded up to 8.68 per cent from 8.35 per cent of
the last year, figures pointed. Recovery rate of sucrose in
Sindh was increased to 9.27 per cent from 9.23 per cent, in
Punjab 8.44 per cent from 7.88 per cent and in NWFP it was
8.06 per cent from 7.18 per cent.
With the production figure of 946,445 tonnes refined sugar,
mills located in Sindh have almost switched off boilers.
Punjab was stood at the point of 1.853 million tonnes at the
start of the new quarter of the year. The share of sugar mills
located in NWFP was of 97,234 tonnes.
It was the God blessing and efforts of growers and sugar
millers that country could achieve a fine production of
refined sugar, Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf, vice president of
Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) told The News.
At the start of the season, sugar production for Sindh was
estimated at 900,000 tonnes. However, it crossed the mark of
955,000 tonnes. Sugar mills in Southern Punjab have closed
down their production while in Central Punjab, production is
going on.
It is the good performance of the sugar industry that save the
country from the import, Zaka said. Last year, country had
spent about $500 million on the import of Indian sugar that
jolted not only the national exchequer but also dented the
indigenous sugar industry, he said.
He bitterly criticised the government policy for the import
due to that each sugar mill had to suffer a loss of around
Rs15 crores. The Indian government had provided 20 per cent
rebate to its industry for dumping the surplus in Pakistan.
courtesy Daily The News ,16
April, 2002
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Pakissan.com;
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