Lahore: Pakistan’s sugar production has witnessed a notable upswing, registering a five percent increase during the initial three months of the 2023-24 crushing season, as disclosed by industry data on Saturday, reported The News.
Despite a delayed commencement and reduced projections for sugarcane output, the nation yielded 2.252 million tonnes of sugar by December 2023, marking a noteworthy rise from the 2.143 million tonnes recorded during the corresponding period in the previous year.
Sindh emerged as a significant contributor to this surge, recording an impressive 49 percent growth in sugar output, while Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa experienced marginal declines.
Specifically, sugar mills in Punjab produced 1.384 million tonnes during the period until December 2023, slightly lower than the 1.397 million tonnes manufactured in the same period last year. Conversely, Sindh demonstrated a substantial increase in sugar production, reaching 0.725 million tonnes by December 2023, compared to the previous year’s production of 0.485 million tonnes during the corresponding month. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa contributed 0.142 million tonnes to this year’s production by December 2023, a slight decrease from the 0.145 million tonnes produced by the end of December 2022.
Despite initial hesitancy within the sugar industry to commence the crushing season this year, November 2023 saw the production of 0.215 million tonnes of sugar in the country, surpassing the corresponding month’s output of 0.115 million tonnes in the previous year.
Insiders attribute this robust start to the crushing season to the elevated sugar prices and conservative estimates of sugarcane production. Lower sugarcane cultivation, particularly in the Punjab province, which witnessed a 15 percent decrease in the cultivated area during Kharif 2023, contributed to the assessment of lower sugarcane production in the country.
Market analysts anticipate that the overall sugar production for the 2023-24 season is poised to exceed six million tons, approaching the 2022-23 total yield of 6.6 million tonnes. Notably, the previous year (2021-22) marked one of the highest levels of total sugar production at 7.5 million tonnes.
A positive development was recorded in November 2023, with a healthy opening stock at the national level, reaching 1.3 million tonnes, compared to 0.99 million tonnes in November 2022. This indicates a comparatively robust stockpile at the beginning of the current crushing season.
In light of the ongoing sugar production, official figures suggest that sweetener prices remain largely stable, ranging between Rs 130 to Rs 140 in wholesale markets across Punjab.
