CCP warns sugar mills against price manipulation

After repeated failures of the federal and provincial governments to provide sugar at the stipulated rate of Rs130 per kilogram, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) too has entered the scenario with a warning to the sugar mills. Contrary to the rates announced by the prime minister, and several attempts by the government to maintain retail sales at Rs130 per kg, sugar prices in the markets continue to soar above Rs180 per kg in various markets across the country. Sugar consumption is forecast to increase slightly to 6.7 million tonnes as it has continuously grown due to population growth and demand from the food processing sector. During the last season, Pakistan produced more than 6.84m tonnes of sugar, which is expected to rise in 2024-25. With an undue increase of Rs30 per kg in the retail price, the additional profit for the supply chain would be more than Rs200 billion. Given this alleged massive siphoning from the consumers, the CCP on Tuesday stated that it was closely monitoring the ongoing sugar crisis and warned that strict enforcement and policy actions will be taken if any anti-competitive activities are found.