Growers say production costs have hit Rs550 a maund; the demand is about 50% above what Punjab mills paid on average last season, as Islamabad moves to deregulate sugar.
LAHORE: Pakistan Kissan Ittehad has demanded that the government start the 2026-27 sugarcane crushing season by November 10, fix the cane price at no less than Rs700 per maund (40 kg), and allow exports of surplus sugar so mills can pay growers on time.
Speaking at the Lahore Press Club, the group’s central president Khalid Mahmood Khokhar said growers’ cost of production had reached Rs550 per maund. Allowing a 25 percent margin for their labour, the official rate should be at least Rs700, he said. He was joined by Mian Asif Kanju of Chiniot, Kasur district president Sardar Aurangzeb Bagoka, spokesman Sardar Saeed Jaffar Dogar, Chunian tehsil president Chaudhry Muhammad Amin Jutt and Kanganpur city president Mian Ijaz Ahmad Wattoo.
Khokhar warned that if the demands were not met immediately, farmers would face a severe economic crisis.
The demand is a big jump on recent prices. Punjab growers received an average of Rs460 per maund last season, according to provincial officials in February. Prices ranged from about Rs400 in Kot Addu and Sargodha to Rs580 in Mianwali. Rs700 would be roughly 50 percent more than that average.
Growers argue that fertiliser, diesel, electricity and labour costs have risen sharply, and that delayed crushing costs them money as harvested cane loses weight in the field. Mills argue that high cane prices push up the price of sugar for consumers and leave them with stocks they cannot sell profitably without exports.
Consumers have their own worries. Sugar mills cried crisis as consumers paid more earlier this season, and the price of sugar has been politically sensitive since prices crossed Rs200 a kg last year.
Under the Punjab Sugar Factories Control Act, 1950, mills must start crushing by a date set by the government, and no later than November 30. Last season Punjab ordered mills to start by November 15. Some millers won a temporary Lahore High Court stay, and 27 of 41 mills had begun by November 17.
The price demand comes as the federal government moves to deregulate the sugar sector, including abolishing the official price-fixing mechanism and handing import and export decisions to the market. That would make a government-notified cane price harder to justify, though Punjab has continued to intervene on crushing dates.
The country has plenty of cane. The Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26 recorded a record crop of 89.45 million tonnes, and in September Khokhar asked the government to allow exports of 1 million tonnes of surplus sugar before the new season began.
Growers’ frustration also extends to wheat, where farmers are waiting on government buying despite the province’s promotion of its Kisan bank and tractor schemes. For a wider view, see our analysis of the sugar sector’s predicament.
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