Pakistan buys 25,000 tons of white sugar

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has bought 25,000 tons of white sugar at $676 per ton cost and freight and free out (CFFO), in a tender that closed on Sept 30, a government official and a trader said on Friday. The government has approved the import of 100,000 tons of sugar to meet possible shortages. It is not known when the remaining 75,000 tons will be imported, but expectations of more purchases from Pakistan have helped underpin sentiment in futures markets bolstered by demand from neighbour India. The contract for 25,000 tons of sugar has been awarded to Al-Khaleej, which quoted the lowest price, said an official of the state-owned Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), which issued the tender. A total of five companies took part in the bidding but only four bids were found valid, the TCP official said earlier. The other offers for a lot of 25,000 tons came from Cargill ($689.00/tonne), LDC ($690.12/ton) and Bunge ($699.69/ton), a trader, who declined to be identified, said on Wednesday. Pakistan bought 75,000 tons of white sugar in a tender that closed on Aug 29, before the approval of another 100,000 tons of imports to meet possible shortages. The government has also decided to import 300,000 tons of raw sugar as officials expect the 2009/10 crop to come in at about 3 million tons, significantly less than demand. The raw sugar is not expected to be imported before December, a food ministry official said recently. The decision to import refined sugar came after domestic prices surged ahead of Ramazan. The rising price of sugar and other staples, plus power shortages, have led to anger with the government and intervention by the judiciary