Row over sugar export further delays crushing

In what appears to be a deliberate move, the sugar mills in Punjab have refused to start the sugarcane crushing season from November 25, as a deadlock between the government and mills over permission to export the sweetener persists. The delay in the crushing, despite the issuance of the permit to start the 2022-23 season, has multiplied the worries of the growers, particularly those who had already harvested their crop in anticipation of start of sugar mills later this week. The sugar mills in Punjab issued a message directly to growers or on social media platforms, saying that because of some technical issues, the crushing of the sugarcane could not be started on November 25, as announced earlier. The growers started sugarcane harvesting after the announcement of Rs300 per 40 kilogrammes support price by the Punjab government for the 2022-23 crushing season. Simultaneously, the sugar mills started issuing permits to the farmers for the supplies from November 25. According to sources, the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) has instructed the mills not to start the crushing season until the government permission for sugar export is received. The farmers say that crop over thousands of acres of land has been harvested and the mills announcement has put them in great difficulty.