Sugar makes the world go round

They say politicians won’t make a promise they could deliver on. The recent so-called sugar price ‘crisis’ has once again proved this saying right. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose own family owns sugar mills in Punjab, had promised not to let the sweetener’s rates go up beyond Rs140 a kilo when his administration allowed a portion of the alleged unsold surplus stock from the past two years to be exported a few months back. Yet, the sugar prices have hit the roof, peaking at Rs180 from Rs130 or less at the start of 2025. This was in spite of consistent fresh supplies to the market from the new harvest that began at the end of November, as well as the unsold stocks that could not be shipped out of the country.