Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Wednesday directed that sugar export in Pakistan proceed only with strategic reserves in place, so selling surplus stock does not push up retail prices for households.
He gave the instruction while chairing a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on the Export of Surplus Sugar in Islamabad, according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs news release. Dar said sending surplus commodities abroad helps the farm economy and brings in foreign exchange, but protecting domestic consumers remains the government’s first duty.
Strategic reserves and price stability
Dar told the authorities concerned to keep strategic sugar reserves sufficient for national demand. The aim, he stressed, is that surplus export should not create upward pressure on shop-level prices. Committee members were thanked for work already done to ease the smooth movement of surplus sugar.
Officials treated domestic supply security and export opportunity as linked steps rather than competing goals. Sugar export in Pakistan, under this approach, is framed around surplus after home needs are covered.
Framework nearing finalisation
The meeting reviewed steps underway to streamline surplus sugar shipments and to finalise the administrative, technical and procedural frameworks that will govern them. Current stock levels and domestic consumption requirements were assessed in detail so that outbound sales would not unsettle price stability at home.
Those frameworks cover how surplus is identified, cleared and shipped once national needs and reserve targets are met. No retail price figures or export tonnages were announced at the meeting.
Who attended the Islamabad meeting
Present were the ministers for National Food Security and Research and for Economic Affairs, the minister of state for finance, the adviser to the prime minister on industries and production, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Tariq Bajwa, and the secretaries of finance, commerce, law and justice, and national food security and research, along with senior officials from the ministries and departments concerned.
The gathering underlined that sugar export in Pakistan is being handled as a cross-ministry exercise, spanning food security, commerce, finance and legal clearances before surplus leaves the country.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar ne kaha hai ke chini ke strategic zakheeray mulk ke liye rakhe jayein. Sirf surplus chini bahar bheji jayegi taake bazaar ki qeemat na barhe. Sarkar ke mutabiq foreign exchange zaroori hai, lekin gharilu mustahlik pehle aate hain. Export ka administrative aur procedural framework jaldi finalize hone wala hai.
