Pakistan: Sugar Update
Pakistan exported 275,000 metric tons of sugar during the first three months of 2016 with the help of an export subsidy of $124 per metric ton. Exports were well below the 500,000 metric ton quota that was established. It is not clear if the subsidy will be extended. With the help of a 40 percent tariff, domestic prices are high and Pakistan’s sugar imports are minimal; unsubsidized exports to markets other than Afghanistan are improbable given current domestic price levels. Marketing year 2016/17 sugar production is forecast at 5.4 million metric tons, up 5.5 percent from the revised 2015/16 estimate. Lower prices for rice and cotton have encouraged some farmers to shift to sugarcane where there is a guaranteed minimum farm price.
