March 04, 2016
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President AKIA, First Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former Provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday asked the government to get sugar prices reduced to provide relief to masses and industry.
Sugar industry should get tax relaxation so that price can be reduced to help all categories of consumers including troubled biscuit and confectionary industry which is using this commodity as basic raw material, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that currently sugar price in Pakistan is 35 percent more than that what is available in the international market due to government has imposed 40 percent heavy regulatory duty on it to discourage imports to safeguard the local cane millers.
He said that price of sugar in the international market is Rs 40 while it is available in the local market for Rs 61 per kg which has damaged the competitive edge of local industry in the export markets.
China, Turkey, India and some other countries continue to replace Pakistan’s biscuit and confectionary items which has frustrated investors and hit expansion plans, he informed.
The only acceptable way to resolve this issue is to provide sugar industry some relief which will automatically reduce prices of input in the confectionary items.
He also demanded reduced mark-up for the sugar industry which will trigger investment in the confectionary industry increasing exports of sweets, bubble gum etc. provide jobs and revenue for the government.
