PAC halts sugar export despite green light from advisory board

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has halted sugar exports without government approval, preventing a Sugar Advisory Board decision to allow the sale of 200,000 tonnes. Similarly, the committee stopped the government from importing wheat until it presents its recommendations, which officials anticipate to be delivered later this month after a brief from the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.

The Sugar Advisory Board, led by Minister for National Food Security Rana Tanveer Hussain, approved the export after evaluating domestic consumption, local needs, and national reserves. The minister affirmed this decision was made only after ensuring domestic markets would not face supply issues, and he pledged to regularly monitor stocks and prices in big cities to prevent consumer price spikes.

He also instructed mill owners to promptly settle outstanding debts to sugarcane farmers, emphasizing that safeguarding farmers' welfare is the top government priority. The PAC's actions follow a meeting where concerns were raised about the 2024-25 wheat procurement's impact on farmers, as doubts grew over the government's wheat policy potentially bankrupting growers and causing an "artificial shortage."

The committee tasked the food ministry with delivering a detailed briefing on the wheat crisis within a week. Presenting a report, the Auditor General of Pakistan informed the committee that the Punjab government's failure to procure wheat, previously procured at a fixed support price, has left farmers financially devastated. The audit raised suspicions over a significant wheat stockpile closing in April 2024 and Punjab's decision not to procure, recommending a thorough investigation.