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Rs 4b owed to sugar growers
KARACHI,April 8: Sindh-based sugar millers owe
over Rs 4 billion to growers in the province,
which they have to clear within 15 days after the
end of crushing season which will come to a close
on April 30, industry sources told Daily Times
here Wednesday.
“The millers have to pay over Rs 4 billion to the
growers, which includes dues of Rs 1.071 billion
from the last crushing season,” said Qamaruzzaman
Shah, president Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA).
He said millers so far owe Rs 2.931 billion to the
growers for the current crushing season.
“At the start of the ongoing crushing, growers
were receiving regular payments relating to the
current crushing season 2003-04, but many millers
have stopped making payments since the last week
of February,” Mr Shah said.
According to a source in the Pakistan Sugar Mills
Association (PSMA), sugar millers have decided to
clear dues of the growers in installments.
“Payments will definitely be linked to disposal of
surplus stock,” the source said.
Shunaid Qureshi, chairman, PSMA (Sindh) could not
be reached for comment.
Industry sources said out of 31 sugar mills
located in Sindh, eleven mills have completed
sugarcane crushing this year. Three sugar mills
including Thatta Sugar Mill, Dadu Sugar Mill and
Kiran Sugar Mill (Rohri) did not take part in
crushing this year.
The government has directed millers to clear the
dues of the growers and earlier this week the
Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet
decided that the Trading Corporation of Pakistan
(TCP) would procure 0.2 million tonnes of sugar
from the millers on the condition that they clear
all the dues of the growers and promise timely
start of the crushing season in November.
Mr Shah appreciated the decision of the cabinet,
saying it would help growers get payments from the
millers. He said a few millers have obtained stay
orders from the Supreme Court of Pakistan over the
payment issue and added that his chamber would
contest the case in the apex court.
“As per the government rules and regulations, the
millers have to pay all dues of the growers within
15 days after the end of the crushing season,”
said a government official at the Sindh Cane
Commissio-ner’s Office in Hyderabad. He said the
office would issue no objection certificates (NOC)
to sell sugar to the TCP only to those companies
which are regularly paying dues to growers. The
official said some sugar mill owners are refusing
to pay dues as they have bulk sugar stocks lying
in warehouses.
“They have a genuine liquidity crisis,” the
official said but added that some of the millers
are deliberately delaying payments despite routine
sale of their sugar in the market. TCP to issue
tenders: TCP sources said after the decision of
the cabinet committee, the TCP would issue open
tenders for the purchase 200,000 tonnes of sugar
in the last week of April.
He said the corporation had already purchased
200,000 tonnes of sugar, which lying in the
warehouses of sugar millers, he said.
Daily Time |
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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