The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet, on Thursday, granted conditional approval for the export of an additional 0.1 million metric tonnes of sugar. This approval came after a summary was submitted by the Ministry of Industries and Production. The ECC extended the export period from 45 to 60 days due to procedural delays and mandated that export proceeds to Afghanistan be received in advance through banking channels. For other destinations, proceeds under Letters of Credit (LC) must be settled within 60 days.
Additionally, the ECC delinked the retail price of sugar from the export permission, noting that sugar mills do not have direct control over retail prices. The condition to revoke export quotas for non-payment of dues to growers will apply only to non-compliant mills, rather than the entire Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA).
The ECC also decided to monitor the sugar market monthly and instructed the Sugar Advisory Board to develop a comprehensive sugar policy within two months to address challenges in the sector and ensure sustainable growth.
In the same meeting, the ECC approved several technical supplementary grants, including over Rs276 million for the Ministry of Interior to support HQ Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) North for Project Implementation Letters (PILs). It also sanctioned over Rs1.951 billion for security charges related to the Reko Diq Project in Balochistan and allocated Rs20 billion as a special allocation for Operation Azm-e-Istehkam during the current fiscal year 2024-25.
