Utility stores across Pakistan run out of sugar

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 05 Jan 2023

• Sugar is in short supply in utility stores across the country.
• Consumers forced to pay Rs30-35 more for sugar in open markets
• It may take one or two weeks for local sugar to be available in markets, and an estimated two weeks for Pakistan to import sugar

ISLAMABAD: Sugar is in short supply in most utility stories across the country, with consumers forced to pay extra for it from the open market markets.

Sugar has disappeared from utility stores across the country over the past two days, adding that consumers are forced to pay an extra Rs30-35 for it.

Utility store owners have been told by suppliers that sugar will not be available for the next seven days. The Utility Stores Corporation does not have sugar stock available at the moment due to which six tenders to buy sugar were issued to meet the demand gap.

However, only 20,000 metric tonnes of sugar were bought on the last tender. They further confirmed that it may take one to two weeks for local sugar to be available in stores.

The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), on the other hand, will issue sugar tenders on March 2 and even after a deal is signed to import the commodity, it may take up to two weeks to import sugar in Pakistan.

Government bigwigs and allies benefited from the sugar crisis

Last year, a sugar crisis during which the price of the commodity skyrocketed, triggering a strong response from Prime Minister Imran Khan saw the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) jump into action and issue a report on the matter.

The report, released last year, claimed that top PTI members were among those who gained from the previous sugar crisis. An investigation into the crisis had been ordered by Prime Minister Imran Khan in February 2020.

Among the people named in the FIA report were former PTI general secretary Jahangir Tareen and a brother of senior politician and minister Khusro Bakhtiar.

Tareen was said by the report to have benefitted the most from the sugar crisis followed by Bakhtiar's brother.

The report also claimed that the companies belonging to Moonis Elahi an ally of the party had profited from the sugar crisis. Elahi is Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi's son and a key member of the PML-Q.