ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): Punjab and Sindh sugar millers raised an alarm regarding potential supply chain disruption and price increases due to repeated outages of the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) Track and Trace (T&T) portal.
The alert was made as a part of a letter written by the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and National Food Security Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain.
The letter mentioned that the T&T portal had been down for a few days, mostly in September and recently last week as well, stopping dispatch operations at major mills.
The association explained that without access to the system, mills are not able to lift sugar or ship it to markets, causing serious bottlenecks in the supply chain.
“If these restraints continue, the shortage may cause another price surge,” the PSMA spokesperson warned.
FBR officials stationed on factory premises, particularly in south Punjab and interior Sindh, have been holding up dispatches by refusing to clearances at mill gates whenever the system is shut down, millers said. The association added that this is now a routine practice, adding to the strains on market supplies.
The PSMA called for the administration to restore system stability and simplify clearances, threatening that the present scenario may lead to nationwide shortages of sugar and avoidable fluctuations in retail prices.
