Info Minister rejects Miftah Ismail’s criticism of sugar policy, says surplus sugar being re-exported

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar has rejected former finance minister Miftah Ismail’s criticism of the government’s sugar policy, saying that sugar was imported to protect consumers after a fall in sugarcane yields and that the remaining surplus is now being re-exported without affecting the domestic market.

Responding to Ismail’s post on X, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar accused the former minister of “twisting facts” and attempting to mislead the public.

“As a matter of record, sugar was exported in 2024 without any subsidy because there was surplus,” Tarar wrote.

He added that sugar was imported last year “timely due to lower yield of sugar cane to protect the consumer and maintain a balance in prices”.

Tarar said 100,000 tonnes of surplus sugar from last year’s imports was now being re-exported.

The process will begin once market conditions were “perfectly stable”, with no adverse impact on consumers or growers, the minister affirmed.

Tarar also challenged Ismail to comment on enforcement measures taken by the Federal board of Revenue (FBR), Pakistan’s tax collection authority, pointing out that they had resulted in an additional Rs60 billion being collected from the sugar industry.

Ismail, however, had presented a different account of the policy.

He had written in a post on X that the government first permitted the export of 750,000 tonnes of sugar, after which domestic prices rose by Rs50 per kilogramme.

He said the government subsequently directed the Trading corporation of Pakistan (TCP), a state trading organisation, to import 300,000 tonnes while excluding private-sector importers. According to Ismail, TCP purchased sugar at prices as much as $40 per tonne above the prevailing international market rate.

Ismail further claimed that even after the imported sugar received waivers from sales tax and excise duty, it remained more expensive than sugar available in Pakistan.

He alleged that government officials from TCP, the Intelligence Bureau and FBR pressured industries, chain stores and brokers to purchase the stock, while sugar mills were instructed not to supply prospective TCP buyers.

With TCP unable to sell its entire stock, Ismail said the government was now seeking to re-export the remaining sugar.

Tarar rejected that interpretation, maintaining that the re-export involved a 100,000-tonne surplus and would not harm either consumers or growers.