This research article analyses the position of sugar industry in Sindh province during the period 1990/91 - 1999/2000. The output of sugar as well as the production of sugarcane increased at an average rate 24 percent and 11.7 percent. But the increased out put could not meet the requirements.

The sugar industry plays an important role in the economy of the country. It is the second largest industry after textiles. At the time of independence in 1947, there were only two sugar factories in Pakistan. The output of these factories was not sufficient for meeting the domestic requirements. The country started to import sugar from other countries and huge foreign exchange was spent on this item. Need was felt to increase the production of sugar. Keeping in view the importance of sugar industry, the Government setup a commission in 1957 to frame a scheme for the development of sugar industry. In this way the first sugar mill was established at Tando Muhammad Khan in Sindh province in the year 1961. At present there are 76 sugar mills operating in Pakistan.

The Sugar industry employs over 75000 people, including management experts, technologists, engineers, financial experts, skilled, semiskilled and unskilled workers. It contributes around 4 billion rupees only under the head of excise duty and other levies to the Government are also paramount significance.

This research article firstly describes introduction, secondly cultivated area, production and per hectare yield of sugar cane, thirdly examines per hectare yield with other countries, fourthly crushing capacity of sugar mills, output and recovery percent of sugar, fifthly projection of sugar demand with the increasing of population and lastly conclusion.

ACREAGE, PRODUCTION AND YIELD OF CANE

Pakistan is the 4th largest among the sugarcane producing countries in the world.

Table: 1 CULTIVATED AREA, TOTAL PRODUCTION AND YIELD PER HECTARE OF SUGARCANE. FROM 1990/91- 1999/2000
Year	Area under cultivation of sugarcane		Total Production		Yield Per Hectare
	000 Hectare	% Increase or Decrease	000 Tones	% Increase or Decrease	Kgs	% Increase or Decrease
1990-91	884	100	35989	100	40,720	100
1991-92	896	101.36	38865	108	43,371	106.51
1992-93	885	100.11	38059	105.75	43,024	105.66
1993-94	963	108.94	44427	123.45	46,144	113.32
1994-95	1009	114.14	47168	131.06	46,747	114.80
1995-96	963	108.94	45230	125.68	46,968	115.34
1996-97	965	109.16	41998	116.70	43,521	106.88
1997-98	1056	119.46	53104	147.56	50,288	124.56
1998-99	1155	130.66	55191	153.35	47,874	117.35
1999-2000	1010	114.25	46363	128.82	95,904	112.73
Source: Government of Pakistan, Economic Survey.

Table No. 1. focuses on cultivated area, output and per hectare yield in Pakistan during the period 1990-91 to 1999-2000. The total cultivated area increased with the average increasing 10.7 percent.

(i) From 884 (000) hectares to 1010 (000) hectares.

(ii) The total production of cane rose from 35,989 (000) tones to 46,363 (000) tones with the average increasing rate of 24 percent.

(iii) The per hectare yield went up from 43,720 Kgs to 45,720 Kgs at the average rate 11.7 percent during the study period. This indicates good progress as an increasing output as well as per hectare yield of sugarcane.

COMPARISON OF PER HECTARE YIELD OF SUGAR CANE WITH OTHER COUNTRIES.

It is pointed out from the Table 1 that the overall out put of sugarcane has been increasing continuously. But yield per hectare is low as compared with other countries as shown in the Table No. 2

Table 2 COMPARISON OF PER HECTARE YIELD OF SUGAR CANE WITH OTHER COUNTRIES.
Name of	Yield Per Hectare in Kgs
Countries	1990-91	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99
Brazil	61744	67518	69097	68436
India	64140	68169	66487	66919
Cuba	57037	33186	35833	31818
Pakistan	40712	43544	50279	47780
USA	76800	74297	77729	80237
ECUADOR	57000	63208	55556	68571
Egypt	94737	110741	108933	110800
Mauritius	72826	72057	79575	79452
Source: (i) Government of Pakistan, Agriculture Statistics of Pakistan 1990-91, Islamabad, 1991, P. 106 (ii) Ibid Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, 1998-99 P.104

Egypt produces the highest yield of cane as compared with other countries. The reasons for low yield in Pakistan are as under:

(i) Unscientific/Unsystematic agriculture practice. (a) Improper selection of land. (b) Improper preparation of land. (c) Conventional planting methods. (d) Late Planting (e) Moisture Stress at critical stage of crop growth. (f) Early and late harvesting. (g) Poor Management of ratoon crop. (ii) Environmental Resistance (iii) Low soil fertility (iv) Defective verities (v) Pests, disease and weeds(vi) Credit shortage (vii) Rapid/ Unplanned increase in Sugar cane acreage in unsuitable areas of Pakistan.

CRUSHING CAPACITY OF MILLS

In Pakistan, 76 Sugar mills are operating having a crushing capacity of 361,300 tons of cane per day.

Table: 3  CANE PRODUCTION, CRUSHING, MILLS, UTILIZATION, CANE PERCENTAGE, SUGAR OUTPUT AND RECOVERY PERCENT 1990/91-1999-2000
Year	Cane Production 000 Tons	Cane Crushing in Tons	No of Mills	Utilization % By Mills	Sugar Production Tones	Recovery o/o
1990-91	35989	22603696	51	62.80	1908838	8.44
1991 -92	38865	24795815	53	63.80	2296698	9.26
1992-93	38059	27274806	61	71.66	2375289	8.71
1993-94	44427	34181899	63	76.93	2900523	8.49
1994-95	47168	34193290	66	72.49	2983101	8.72
1995-96	45230	28151434	66	62.24	2449598	8.70
1996-97	41998	27152918	68	64.65	2378751	8.76
1997-98	53104	41062268	71	77.32	3548953	8.64
1998-99	55191	42994911	71	77.90	3530931	8.21
1999-2000	46363	28982711	67	62.51	2414746	8.33
Source: (i) Government of Pakistan, Economic Survey 1999-2000, Islamabad, 2000, P.24 (ii) Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), Quoted in the Daily Dawn, Dated 5/2/2001.

Table 3 indicates the whole picture of sugar industry in the country. In 1990-91, 51 sugar mills were operating and they utilized 62.80 percent of total cane production. The output of sugar was 1908838 tones and the recovery became 8.44 percent. The operation of mills increased to 71 in the year 1998- 99 and decreased to 67 in the year 1999-2000. It shows that four mills were closed due to financial crises. This affected the crushing capacity as well as output of sugar during the year 1999-2000 as indicated in Table No. 3. Such declining output created sugar problem in the country. Requirements can be met by importing sugar from other countries or by enhancing the domestic out put of sugar.

PROJECTION OF DEMAND AND SUGAR PRODUCTION CAPACITY

Pakistan's present population is 13.5 million. With an average growth rate of 2.5 percent per year the population of country will grow from year to year as shown in Table 4. The per capita of sugar in Pakistan is about 22 Kgs. The estimated domestic consumption is provided in Table No. 4.

Table 4: PROJECTION OF DEMAND AND SUGAR PRODUCTION CAPACITY 1998/99-2004/5
Year	Population In Million	Domestic Consumption in Tones	Projected Sugar Prod: Capacity In Tones
1998-99	134.51	2959000	3530850
1999-2000	137.51	3025220	2414746
2000-01	140.94	3100680	3304360
2001-02	144.47	3178340	3304360
2002-03	148.08	3257760	3304360
2003-04	151.78	3339160	3304360
2004-05	155.58	4322760	3304360
Source: Government of Pakistan, Economic Survey, 1999-2000, Islamabad, 2000, Statistical Section P.07

(i) Keeping in view the balance of production of agricultural sector and peculiar problems of the sugar industry faces due to its being a sort of political industry as well as its seasonal nature the minimum production of 3.3 million tones per season will be sufficient enough to meet not only the domestic demand but also make surplus sugar available during the next three years as mentioned in Table 4.

(ii) It is very important point that by utilizing 38.3 million tones of cane against their normal plant capacity of 58 million tones of sugar cane, the mills would still have an unutilized capacity of 34 percent. The Government should, therefore, focus its policy for increasing the production of sugarcane on the existing area under cultivation and sugar output by the existing mill. It should not encourage further increase in the number of Sugar mills.

(iii) This clearly indicates that the existing mills are sufficient enough to produce the country's requirement of sugar for the next three years.

MAIN MEASURES FOR IMPROVING SUGAR INDUSTRY

HIGH YIELDING VARIETIES OF SUGAR CANE

High yielding varieties of cane should be introduced in the agricultural sector. This will bring improvement in cane yield per hectare and will increase in sucrose content. Such varieties will rise the output of Sugar.

INITIAL WORKING CAPITAL

Nine units are likely to be closed viz. Bachani, Thatta, Dadu, Kiran, Lakana, Tharparkar, Thar, Pasrur and Qaud Ghar. The cause of closure of these mills may be lacking of initial capital, which is imperative for transaction. These mills should be financed by the banks for continuing the operations. This step can increase the output of sugar.

DIVERSIFICATION OF EXCESS QUANTITY OF RAW CANE

The Raw cane 37.5 Percent instead of 25 Percent is being diversified into seed, and Gur manufacturing. If 25 percent cane is diversified, it can save 12 percent of raw cane and will produce 113,587 tons of sugar resulting in saving of million foreign exchange.

CONCLUSION

At the time of independence in 1947, Pakistan got two sugar mills as its share. The output of these mills was not sufficient for meeting the domestic requirements. Huge amount of foreign exchange was being spent on the import of sugar. The cane commission was setup in 1957 to form plan for increasing the output of cane and establishing sugar mill in the country.

This research article analyses the position of sugar industry during the period 1990/91-1999/2000. During this period the cultivated area under cane increased at average rate of 10.7 percent, output of cane production rose at average rate of 24 percent and the yield per hectare went up at the average rate 11.7 percent. But the per hectare yield was lower in the country as compared to other cane growing countries.

Looking at Table 3, it was pointed out that the existing number of operating mills reached to 71 in the year 1998-99 but again declined to 67 due to closure of certain units. The crushing capacity of cane and production of sugar increased up to 1998-99 and again decreased which created shortage of sugar. This can be increased by introducing new varieties of cane as well as starting the closure units.

*The author is Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur