With sugar prices already up 42 per cent over last year, the influential sugar industry has started lobbying for major exports – at least one million tonnes – to “ensure payments to farmers”. Informed sources said the sugar millers had already activated their political channels in the new government to secure permission for sugar exports and some procurements by the government for strategic res
Construction activities remained slow as local cement despatches fell year-on-year by 0.62 per cent in March and 3.81pc in 9MFY24, respectively. Local sales eased to 3.336 million tonnes from 3.357m tonnes in March 2023, showing a decline of 0.62pc. Export despatches, however, increased by 38pc to 605,142 tonnes from 438,433 tonnes a year ago. As a result, the overall cement despatches (loca
Services’ exports rebounded year-on-year in February after contracting in the preceding four months, according to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday. The services exports reached $627.05 million in February, marking a 6.11 per cent increase from the $590.96m in the corresponding month last year. In rupee terms, the export of services grew 11.08pc in February to
The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has issued show-cause notices to the Fertiliser Manufacturers of Pakistan Advisory Council (FMPAC) and six leading fertililiser companies for allegedly fixing urea prices, a prima facie violation of Section 4 of the Competition Act 2010. Urea prices play a crucial role in determining the prices of essential food commodities. Any arbitrary increas
The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (Pide), a state-owned think tank, has asked the government to shift gear from bureaucratic permissions to rule-based market liberalisation, exploit over Rs300 billion annual revenue potential from real estate through transparency, generate gains in agriculture sector worth Rs1.7 trillion and open up public land in Islamabad worth Rs2.2tr for private