manzoor-wattooLAHORE, Aug 17: Minister for Industries and Production Manzoor Wattoo has said that 50,000 tons of sugar is being imported from Dubai and tenders have been issued for importing another 75,000 tons.

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, he said a total of 1.3 million tons raw sugar would also be imported ?300,000 tons immediately? in accordance with a decision of the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet.

He said that raw sugar would be processed by local sugar mills and supplied to the market to stabilise the price.

The minister said that sugar would be sold at Utility Stores and Friday and Sunday bazaars at Rs38 per kg till the start of the next crushing season.

He said the Trading Corporation of Pakistan would provide 75,000 tons to Utility Stores and the open market each month, adding that the TCP had a stock of 216,000 tons lying with sugar mills.

He said that some influential mill owners had refused to let the TCP lift the sugar it had already paid for, thereby increasing the market price.

The minister said that services of National Logistics Cell would be used, instead of private transporters.

APP adds: The Trading Corporation of Pakistan has released 298,637 tons of sugar to Utility Stores from January 2009 to August this year.

A statement issued by the TCP in Karachi on Sunday said the Utility Stores Corporation was selling sugar at Rs38 kg from its more than 5,000 outlets in the country.

In August, the TCP has so far released 29,000 tons of sugar to Utility Stores against their quota of 30,000 tons for the entire month.

The statement said that some complaints were reported by the Utility Stores Corporation about the lifting of TCP-owned sugar from some sugar mills in Punjab, including the Tandlianwala Sugar Mills in Faisalabad.

It said the Faisalabad administration was requested to take action and because of intervention 18,000 tons of sugar was lifted last week.

The Utility Stores would be selling 70,000 tons during Ramazan at Rs38 per kg from its outlets for which the TCP would maintain regular supply. The statement said that about 1.4 million tons of sugar was available in the warehouses of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association.

Moreover, around 300,000 tons of sugar is with stockists and dealers. The TCP stock is around 10 per cent of the total stock in Pakistan.