PAKISTAN: Industry seeks tax waiver for beet sugar
Published: 03/09/2010, 11:54:37 AM
Pakistan's sugar industry has sought exemption from sales tax on sugar produced from sugarbeet to overcome the declining trend in sugar production from sugarcane, according to Pakistan's Daily Times newspaper.
Despite continued sugar shortages in the country the ministry of industry has failed to harness the potentials of sugar beet for production of sugar, sources said.
A presentation made to the ministry of industries and production by an international consultant suggested that Pakistan needed to increase sugar production from sugarbeet in the wake of serious water shortages in the country.
The report has highlighted almost all the districts of Sindh and most of the southern districts of Punjab are suitable for sugar beet plantation in winter months. The climatic conditions of lower Sindh are similar to Nile delta valley in Egypt, where commercial sugarbeet production has been successful for many years. However, an official of the ministry said that the idea of producing sugar from sugar eet has not been successful in the country because sugar shortage was not a serious issue few years back, as scarcity of cane is a recent phenomenon.
Meanwhile the sugar mills have demanded the ministry of industries provide incentives for the promotion of sugar production from sugarbeet in the wake of declining sugarcane production in the country and water shortages faced by the cane growers.
"The sugar mills have to use furnace oil to heat up the boilers for producing sugar from the sugar beet," said Iskander khan, chairman PSMA, adding that in case of crushing of sugar cane the bagaas produced from the cane is burned to heat up the boilers.
The PSMA has said that sugar production from sugarbeet can be obtained with minor extensions in the existing sugar mills. According to the to PSMA four sugar mills had established the grinder units to make sugar out of sugarbeet. The four mills are Charsada, Khazana, Premier and Frontier sugar mills, all of them situated in the NWFP. However, due to various reasons Charsada and Khazana sugar mills are non-operational while Premier and Frontier sugar mills did not have any crushing this year due to short supply of sugar cane.