Sugar in short supply across utlity stores in Pakistan

Pakistan may be heading towards another sugar crisis, as utility stores across the country have run out of the commodity, reported Geo News on Saturday.

Sources informed Geo News that the situation has created problems for customers, who are forced to buy it from the open market for Rs30-35 more compared to what it was being sold for in utility stores.

The Utility Stores Corporation, according to sources, do not have enough sugar stock available in the country and in order to remedy the situation, six tenders to purchase the commodity were issued.

However, only 20,000 metric tonnes of sugar were bought on the last tender, said sources. 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 for sugar to land in Pakistan.

'Government bigwigs and allies benefited from sugar crisis’

Last year, the price of sugar skyrocketed across the country, prompting a strong response from Prime Minister Imran Khan, who launched a "grand operation" against the alleged sugar mafia in the country.

The prime minister had tasked the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to probe the rise in the prices of sugar and make public the report.

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.