Who else makes the decision to export surplus sugar from Pakistan?

Dr Abdul Waheed Mastoi
Sugar was being sold for less than Rs 100 in Pakistan only a few months ago, whereas these days sugar is being sold for around Rs 200 in the market.
The government has decided to ban the export of sugar. However, it was only a few months ago when the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government allowed the export of sugar as there was apparently ‘abundant sugar’ in the country.
So the question is, if sugar was ‘abundant’, how has it become scarce in just a few months?
The widening gap between the supply and demand of sugar in Pakistan and the doubling of prices are currently under discussion, but some experts who monitor the sugar industry and production believe that there was no ‘abundant’ amount of sugar in the country. He believes that the previous government’s decision to export sugar was not correct.
Ex-federal officials of former Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s government comprising different political parties are holding each other’s ministries responsible at this point.
Without going into the political nature of this issue, the key question is who decides to export sugar in Pakistan and on what basis is it done and does the government have the means to collect authentic data on sugar availability and production? Is there any mechanism?
It is not the case that the government only relies on the data provided by the sugar factories and mills. It should be remembered that the big businessmen associated with the sugar industry in Pakistan also have political influence.
Sugar is one of the eight primary commodities in Pakistan and its export is decided by a committee of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet called ECC or Economic Coordination Committee.
It should be remembered that at the beginning of this year, the then government had decided to export sugar. The consumption of sugar in the country is around seven million tons, but at the end of last year, the Sugar Mills Association said that there were more than eight million tons of sugar in the country.
Pakistan introduced a ‘track and trace’ system in 2020 which was quite effective, but it did not last long.
Waqar Ahmed says that in the system that was created in the year 2020, the deputy commissioner of each region had to submit the data regarding the reserves of eight basic commodities in his region to the federal government at eight o’clock every night, including sugar was included.
In this way, the government had timely and accurate data regarding the sugar reserves of all the sugar mills in the country.
According to him, it would have been possible to make a correct decision regarding the export or import of sugar in the light of these data.
However, Dr. Waqar Ahmed says that this system could not last long. A disadvantage, he says, is that governments have mostly relied on sugar mill associations for data. This is the reason why there is a possibility of error in the decision regarding the export of sugar.
At the same time, there is a possibility that there will be an artificial shortage of sugar in the country. The government then needs to import sugar.
Economic researcher Dr. Waqar Ahmad says that in Pakistan, sugar is mostly exported, imported and sold within the country at the national level.
“Whoever sells sugar here locally also exports sugar and imports most of it.” Not everyone can import sugar. There is a license for that.
It also means that when the government needs to import sugar for export or any other reason, the import is done by those who have the license. And this license is mostly held by those who exported the sugar.
Dr. Waqar Ahmad says that this is the reason why sugar policy in Pakistan is influenced by sugar exporters and importers who are mostly owners of sugar mills.