Shortage of sugar across utility stores in Pakistan

Sugar is in short supply in most Utility Stores across Pakistan over the past two days. Consumers are forced to pay an extra Rs30-35 for it.

Suppliers told utility stores operators that sugar will not be available for the next seven days. Sources also said that the Utility Stores Corporation does not have sugar stock available at the moment due to which six tenders to buy sugar have been issued to meet the demand gap.

However, only 20,000 metric tonnes of sugar were bought on the last tender, said sources. They further confirmed that it may take one or two weeks for local sugar to be available in stores.

The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), on the other hand, will issue sugar tenders on March 2. It may take up to two weeks for the sugar to land in Pakistan.

Last year, the price of sugar skyrocketed across the country. It prompted a strong response from Prime Minister Imran Khan, who launched a “grand operation” against the ‘sugar mafia’.

The prime minister had tasked the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to probe the rise in the prices of sugar and make public the report.

The report, released last year, claimed that top PTI members gained the most from the previous sugar crisis. Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered an investigation into the crisis in February 2020.

Among the people named in the FIA report were former PTI general secretary Jahangir Tareen and a brother of senior politician and minister Khusro Bakhtiar.

Tareen reported to have benefitted the most from the sugar crisis followed by Bakhtiar’s brother.

The report also claimed that the companies belonging to Moonis Elahi had profited from the sugar crisis. Elahi is Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi’s son and a key member of the PML-Q.