Govt decides to allow sugar export

After resisting for weeks, the government has finally made up its mind to allow the export of sugar to facilitate millers and sugarcane farmers in depleting old stocks and speed up fresh crushing. Informed sources told Dawn that a formal decision on the exact export quantities and the related mechanism would be taken at back-to-back meetings of the Sugar Advisory Board (SAB) and the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of Cabinet on Tuesday. These sources said a SAB meeting led by Minister for National Food Security and Research Tariq Bashir Cheema would meet in the morning to firm up recommendations for export quantities and safeguard measures to avoid shortages and price hikes in the domestic market. The board also comprises the commerce minister and secretaries for commerce, industries and food besides one member each from four provinces and provincial sugar mill associations.