Pakistan Set to Offload Imported Sugar at Rs110/kg, Facing Rs8 Billion Loss

The federal government is moving toward selling 108,000 tonnes of sugar imported last year at approximately Rs110 per kilogram, a steep drop from the Rs184.8 per kilogram reserve price it had fixed for the same stock in September. The gap translates into an estimated loss of about Rs8 billion for the public exchequer, according to officials familiar with the matter.

The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) opened bids on November 13 for export of the stock held at its Pipri godown in Karachi. Three trading firms submitted offers, with Rahul International Trading LLC of the UAE quoting the lowest at $386 per tonne, followed by General Trading LLC at $395 and Sputnik Global Trading LLC at $400. Using the Rs280-to-the-dollar rate applied in TCP's own tender documents, these offers equate to roughly Rs108 to Rs112 per kilogram.

TCP and the Ministry of Commerce have placed the matter before a committee headed by the Deputy Prime Minister, seeking approval to sell at around Rs110 per kilogram. The bids received cover less than half of the available stock, or about 50,000 tonnes. The Minister for National Food Security and Research reportedly did not attend the meeting.

The stock is the remainder of 300,000 tonnes of white refined sugar that TCP imported between September and November 2025 to ease a domestic shortage. Import bids at the time ranged between roughly $530 and $586 per tonne on a cost-and-freight Karachi basis, with press reports putting total spending near Rs50 billion. Around 192,000 tonnes were sold domestically, while the remaining 108,000 tonnes have sat in TCP warehouses for about a year.

Measured against the September reserve price, selling the full 108,000 tonnes at Rs110 per kilogram would mean a loss of about Rs75 per kilogram, or roughly Rs8.1 billion. If only 50,000 tonnes are sold, the loss on that quantity would be around Rs3.75 billion. About Rs50 of the per-kilogram gap reflects the shortfall against the original import cost, with the remainder representing carrying costs accumulated over the past year. The roughly 58,000 tonnes left unsold would add about Rs116 million per month in carrying charges.

Earlier domestic tenders in November 2025 were rejected because offers fell below the landed cost, and a September 2026 export tender that carried a reserve price attracted no bids despite international white sugar prices then hovering around $505 to $520 per tonne. A fresh tender issued on November 10 removed the reserve price altogether, clearing the way for the current offers.