FBR portal blockade sparks sugar industry outcry

ISLAMABAD : Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA ) is crying due to government’s lethal actions to avoid tax leakage and malpractice in sugar delivery to the market.
In an other to the Federal Minister of Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb and the Minister for National Food Security, Rana Tanveer Hussain , PSMA has taken up the issue of closure of the FBR’s S-Track portal.
In a statement, a PSMA spokesman has expressed serious concern about the issue of deliberate blocking of FBR’s sales tracking system portals installed in every sugar mill which still persists and is disrupting the supply of sugar to different parts of the country.
The spokesperson further stated that portals are being blocked repeatedly to facilitate sale of sugar imported through TCP by waiving all duties and taxes, but despite this, there is no positive impact on the stability of sugar prices. Stopping the lifting of domestic sugar and facilitating the sale of imported sugar will also destabilize the market and prices would inflate.
Mills having sugar stocks are unable to dispatch sugar on time due to closure of the FBR’s S-Track portal. Trucks loaded with sugar are not being allowed to leave the mills’ premises. In this situation, mills are unable to clear their stock to create storage capacity for the upcoming crushing season, while payments of their bank loans are also due, which will affect their cash flow to make timely payments to sugarcane farmers. Such administrative measures could prove fatal for the sugar industry, and due to the financial crunch created by this situation, many sugar mills would not be in a position to start the crushing season on time.
It is most likely that such a policy may lead to shortage of sugar in the market and result in increase in sugar prices, for which the industry cannot be blamed at all.
The sugar industry again requests the government to intervene into this matter at the earliest and remove all restrictions to ensure smooth flow of sugar in the market.