(CTN News) – Retail sugar prices in the country spiked to a whopping Rs220 per kilogram on Monday night, up from Rs85 per kilogram in January, while shortages of this essential kitchen item were reported from most cities throughout the first day of the week.
In 1947, or at the time of independence, the “Jang Group and Geo Television Network” conducted archival research that revealed the existence of only two Sugar mills in Pakistan; one in Punjab and one in NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).
The area under cultivation of sugarcane in those days was approximately 200,000 hectares. Over 1.16 million hectares are devoted to the cultivation of sugarcane in the country.
A total of 65,7 percent of this area is devoted to sugarcane cultivation in Punjab, while 26.8 percent and 7.5 percent are devoted to sugarcane cultivation, respectively, in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
There are approximately 22 kilograms of Sugar Price consumed per capita in Pakistan each year, which is slightly above the world average, while in India there are 15 kilograms consumed per capita.
In addition, research indicates that the sugar price in the retail market was only 60 paisa per kg between 1947 and 1951, during the reign of the first Prime Minister of the country, Liaquat Ali Khan.
Under Premier Khawaja Nazimuddin’s regime, this price increased to 75 paisa per kilogram between 1952 and 1957.
During the period 1958-1961, when General Ayub Khan was in power, the price of sugar increased to Rs1.75 per kilogram, whereas during the period 1971-1977, when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was in power, the price of Sugar Price hovered around Rs6 per kilogram.
When General Zia ruled between 1977 and 1988, the price of sugar reached Rs9 per kg, while it reached Rs10 per kg when Benazir Bhutto ruled between 1988 and 1991.
In the period between 1991 and 1994, when Nawaz Sharif was in power, the sugar price was Rs13 per kg and between 1994 and 1997, when Benazir was in power, it was Rs21 per kg.
During the second tenure of Nawaz Sharif between 1997 and 1999, the price remained static at Rs21 per kg, while it surged to Rs30 per kg under the administration of General Musharraf between 1999 and 2008.
There were 75 rupees per kilogram in October 2010, 101 rupees/kg in November 2010, and 59 rupees per kilogram in March 2012.
During Nawaz Sharif’s third term in power in 2013, the price of Sugar Price was Rs53 per kg, while in December 2018, it was Rs55 per kg.
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