The Bangladeshi government has canceled a memorandum of understanding signed by the Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) with S Alam & Co to modernize state-run sugar mills that are performing poorly, reports The Daily Star.
The first agreement, signed on 4 July, related to a feasibility study that the company was to conduct as a precursor of efforts to make Bangladeshi sugar production better.
Zakia Sultana, Senior Secretary at the Ministry of Industries, confirmed the cancellation, saying that as the MoU was a non-binding one, the government could withdraw from the agreement. However, she did not say anything about the reasons for ending the deal. Of the 15 sugar mills under BSFIC, only nine are currently operational, while the remaining six were closed down in late 2020 continuously facing losses and desperately in need of modernization.
In December 2020, these six state-run sugar mills in Pabna, Shyampur, Panchagar, Setabganj, Rangpur and Kushtia, were announced to be suspended from production.
