| GEO Business | | Pakistan to import 375,000 T of sugar in Aug/Sept | Updated at: 1754 PST, Tuesday, June 08, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan plans to import another 375,000 tonnes of white sugar in August/September to meet shortages in the country, Pakistan's state-run trading agency (TCP) said.
The agency has already bought 825,000 tonnes of sugar after the government set an import target of 1.2 million tonnes for TCP this year, anticipating the shortfall in domestic production.
TCP said the 375,000 tonnes of sugar would arrive Pakistan in October/November.
"This is being planned in view of the declining trend of international prices for sugar," the agency said in a statement issued on Monday evening.
TCP holds a stock of 200,000 tonnes while 300,000 tonnes would be arriving in the country by the end of August and remaining 300,000 tonnes in following months.
The demand of the commodity tends to increase in the Muslims fasting month of Ramadan, which is expected to fall in August. But TCP said it has sufficient stocks for Ramadan.
Pakistan has a little over 3 million tonnes of sugar from 2009/10 crop against the demand of 4.2 million tones annually.
The government initially asked the TCP to import a total of 500,000 tonnes of white sugar this year and issued several tenders from Dec. 31, to meet demand and maintain strategic reserves.
But the TCP later said it had been given a mandate to import a total of 1.2 million tonnes of sugar. |  |
|
ShareThis
