LAHORE: The Punjab cane commissioner issued a directive to sugar mill owners on Monday, instructing them not to store sugar in their warehouses for more than three days.

Moreover, buyers who bought sugar more than 15 days ago were directed to collect the commodity from the mill warehouses within three days.

A government verification of sugar stocks revealed that around 202,056 metric tons of sugar, which had been sold but not yet lifted, remained in nine sugar mills across various districts, including Faisalabad, Jhang, Chiniot, Toba Tek Singh, Mandi Bahauddin, Sargodha,andBhakkar.

The surge in sugar prices necessitated the release of these sold but un-lifted stocks to stabilize the market and curb the price hike.

In a gazette notification, the cane commissioner mandated that sugar factory operators must inform the deputy commissioner of the respective district about future contracts forsugar. Furthermore, buyers are prohibited from keeping sugar purchased through futures contracts in the factory warehouse for more than 15 days.

The verification, conducted on June 22, found that sugar had been sold by the mills, but dealers and buyers had not collected the stocks, allowing the occupiers of sugar factories to keep them in their warehouses. These un-lifted stocks were being manipulated to inflate sugar prices and exploit the public with unjustified profits.

The notification attributed the price hike primarily to hoarding and speculation in the sugar business.

The order takes immediate effect and will remain in force until Nov 30, 2023.

The notification highlighted the unprecedented increase in sugar prices, which rose from Rs100 per kg in April to Rs155 per kg in late July. It deemed the price hike unjustified as the mills had completed sugarcane crushing in March and sold sugar at Rs99 per kg in April, accounting for production costs and the mills` profit margins.

Deputy commissioners and additional cane commissioners have also been tasked with verifying stocks at the sugar mills.

SOLD BUT UN-LIFTED STOCK: The Punjab government verified that approximately 202,056 metric tons of sugar, previ-ously sold but not lifted, were still present in nine sugar mills in Faisalabad, Jhang, Chiniot, Toba Tek Singh, Mandi Bahauddin, Sargodha, and Bhakkar districts.

The verification data indicated that Hunza-I sugar mill in Faisalabad had 21,281 metric tons of sugar in stock, while Hunza-II mill in Jhang had 47,217 metric tons.

In Chiniot, Ramzan Sugar Mills had 4,496 metric tons of sugar, and Two Star Mill (Kamalia) in Toba Tek Singh had 3,140 metric tons. Shahtaj sugar mill in Mandi Bahauddin had 4,165 metric tons of sugar stock.

In Sargodha, three sugar mills Al-Arabia, SW, and Noon had stocks of 87,231 metric ton, 33,200 metric ton, and 826 metric tons of sugar, respectively. The Darya Khan sugar mill in Bhakkar had 500 metric tons of sugar stock.

lWEETING: The cane commissioner Punjab invited the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association, representing the sugar factories, for a hearing regarding `the cost of production of sugar to fix the ex-mill sugar prices under Section 4 of Punjab Foodstuffs (sugar) order 2023`.

The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday at 11am at the cane commissioner`s office.

The association chairman has been asked to attend the meeting along with cost of production to discuss the subject matter.