Government weighs selling imported sugar at Rs 110 a kilo
Commerce ministry and TCP seek approval to sell 108,069 tonnes below the Rs 184.80 reserve price after bids of $386 to $400 a tonne covered less than half the stock.
The federal government is considering selling 108,069 tonnes of imported sugar held by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan at about Rs 110 a kilogram, roughly Rs 75 below the reserve price it set in September, with an estimated loss of Rs 8 billion to the national exchequer.
The Ministry of Commerce and TCP have sought approval for the sale after an earlier export tender failed to find buyers, Bloom Pakistan reported. TCP opened a fresh tender on November 13 and received three bids. The lowest was $386 a tonne from UAE-based Rahul International Trading LLC, followed by General Trading LLC at $395 and Sputnik Global Trading LLC at $400 a tonne.
At Rs 280 to the dollar, the rate used in TCP's tender documents, those offers work out to between about Rs 108 and Rs 112 a kilogram. The bids cover about 50,000 tonnes, less than half of the stock on offer.
Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan told the National Assembly in a written reply on October 26 that TCP had imported 306,737 tonnes at a total cost of about Rs 54.16 billion, including incidental expenses and markup. Of that, 198,668 tonnes were sold at a weighted average of Rs 168.24 a kilogram, leaving 108,069 tonnes in TCP warehouses as of August 31, 2026.
The government imported 300,000 tonnes of refined sugar between September and November 2025 to ease a domestic shortage after prices rose in local markets.
TCP's first export tender, issued in September 2026, set a reserve price of Rs 184.80 a kilogram, or Rs 184,800 a tonne. It drew no bids when it was opened on September 30. The reserve was well above international white sugar prices, reported at about $505 to $515 a tonne at the time.
A second tender went out without a reserve price, aimed at finding foreign buyers before new domestic production arrives. The unsold sugar sits at TCP's Pipri warehouse in Karachi, where storage and financing charges add to the cost.
ProPakistani reported the planned sale at Rs 110 a kilogram and the Rs 8 billion loss. Bloom Pakistan reported that the proposal is still awaiting a federal decision once the bids are assessed, and carried the tonnage, bid and National Assembly figures.
The loss estimate has renewed questions about the government's procurement, its import planning and how it manages essential food commodities.
How the reports differ
ProPakistani's headline presented the sale at Rs 110 a kilogram as a decision, while Bloom Pakistan reported it as a proposal the Ministry of Commerce and TCP have put to the government and which is still awaiting a federal decision once the bids are assessed. Bloom Pakistan carried the tender detail, including the three bidders, their per-tonne offers and the Rs 280 to the dollar rate used in TCP's documents, and the figures from Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan's October 26 reply to the National Assembly. ProPakistani's headline gives the Rs 8 billion loss without the tonnage; Bloom Pakistan sets out the 108,069 tonnes and the earlier import of 306,737 tonnes.
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