Pakistan signalled a green flag to resume bilateral trade with India yesterday after banning imports from India for almost two years. The announcement was made by Pakistan’s newly appointed Finance Minister Hammad Azhar on Wednesday.
Pakistan would allow importing 5 LMT of white sugar from India to combat the abrupt increase in domestic prices which is estimated to be at a difference of 15 to 20 per cent lesser in India as compared to Pakistan.
Ministry of Commerce, Government of Pakistan allocated quota for import of white sugar to interested importers subject to the following conditions:
– The sugar import quota shall be issued on a first come first serve basis.
– The minimum quantity of quota allocation to a single importer shall be 1000 tons and the maximum quota shall be 10,000 tons.
– An importer who has been granted sugar import quota shall be bound to open Irrevocable Letter of Credit or make partial advance payment for import of allocated amount of sugar within 5 working days of grant of quota. Failure to open Irrevocable Letter of Credit or make partial advance payment for import of allocated amount of sugar within 5 working days of grant of quota shall result in cancellation of sugar import quota. The day of the allocation of import quota would be excluded from the calculation of 5 working days.
– The sugar import quota shall be valid for import of white sugar into Pakistan till 30th June 2021,
– The import white sugar shall be in accordance with the Pakistan Standards listed in the Import Policy Order 2020,
– Sugar mills shall not be eligible for allocation of quota for import of white sugar.
Documents Required:
i) Application stating the amount of sugar quota to be allocated
ii) Name, address and contact details of the importer
iii) National tax registration number of the importer issued by FBR,
iv) Letter of comfort from a Bank that the importer has financial resources to import sugar
