There is something terribly wrong with the government’s sugar re-exporting story. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar’s latest response to a former finance minister’s remarks makes the government’s side of the story too difficult to ignore… and defend.
Tarar says sugar was exported in 2024 because Pakistan had surplus stocks. He says sugar was imported last year because sugarcane production was lower. He now says 100,000 tons of that imported sugar is being re-exported because market conditions are stable.
On the surface, this sounds perfectly reasonable. But ex-Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has shared a rather graphic but real story behind the re-export order.
Exporting Imported Sugar Cheaper Than Original Cost
The former finance minister says the government’s decision to allow sugar exports pushed the domestic price up by around Rs. 50 per kg. He then asks why the government chose to import sugar through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), instead of allowing the private sector to import it.
More importantly, he shared that TCP bought sugar at prices higher than the international market. Now the same sugar is being re-exported at lower prices. This is where Attaullah Tarar’s explanation becomes difficult to defend.
If sugar was bought at a higher price and is now being sold abroad at a lower price, Pakistan takes the loss. The country paid expensive dollars to bring the commodity in and is now giving up foreign exchange value by selling it cheaper.
That is not a minor technicality. It is the central question.
Why was the sugar bought at that price in the first place?
Tarar’s response does not answer that; 0%.
FBR Sales Tax
He also mentioned FBR’s additional Rs. 60 billion collection from the sugar industry as evidence of enforcement. But Miftah’s response exposes another important point.
Higher sugar prices themselves increase sales tax collection.
With an 18 percent sales tax, a Rs. 50 per kg increase in the taxable price means Rs. 9 more tax per kilogram. Miftah also pointed to the excise tax imposed on the sugar-consuming industry and FBR’s Track and Trace system.
So the Rs. 60 billion collection is certainly big. But it cannot prove that the government’s sugar policy protected consumers. The government needs to explain the complete chain.
Sugar was exported. Domestic prices increased. Sugar was later imported through TCP. Miftah says it was bought above international prices.
TCP could not sell all of it. And now 100,000 tons is being re-exported.
What was the total cost to Pakistan?
This is the number the public needs to see.
The government can settle the issue very easily. Publish TCP’s purchase price, the international benchmark at the time, its domestic selling price, the current re-export price and the total foreign-exchange impact.
That would end the argument. Sadly, the Information Minister accused Miftah of distorting facts and misleading people. Miftah’s response was different in tone. And defensible. He did not simply throw the same accusation back.
Miftah challenged Tarar to identify even one fact in his original statement that was wrong and then went through the disputed points one by one.
Personal Hit
There was also a revealing personal remark at the end.
Miftah pointed out that Tarar used to call him “Miftah bhai” but now called him “Mr Ismail.” He said governments come and go and politicians should not stop acting with grace.
He then praised Ahsan Iqbal, Awais Leghari, Ali Pervaiz Malik and Musadik Malik for maintaining that grace despite political disagreements.
I can personally attest to the grace and professionalism of the four public figures Miftah has named. Their official decisions and policy choices, of course, are a separate matter.
Logic for Grace
Responding respectfully to Tarar’s bold claims was perhaps the strongest part of Miftah’s response. He could have responded to the Information Minister’s tone with the same level of personal hostility. Instead, he made the disagreement about policy while pointing out, without much drama, that the tone had changed.
And that brings us back to the sugar issue. The government has explained why it says sugar was exported and why it says imports became necessary. It has also explained why it is now re-exporting the surplus.
It still needs to explain whether Pakistan bought that sugar too expensively and is now selling it too cheaply.
Until that question is answered with actual numbers, calling the criticism “distortion” does not make the bizarre issue disappear.
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