Naveed Qamar made big revelation regarding sugar smuggling
Naveed Qamar made big revelation regarding sugar smuggling
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00:00 The commerce minister, Naveed Kammar, is with us. He is the senior representative of the People's Party.
00:05 Naveed Kammar, thank you for your support.
00:07 The PDM government was under your supervision and the minister of finance, Murtaza Mehmood was under the ministry of commerce.
00:16 Naveed Kammar, why did you propose the acquisition of sugar in the ECC?
00:21 How many sugar stocks were being sold at that time?
00:24 If you look at the last year's figure, there were 8,247,344 total stocks at the end of production.
00:38 Out of this, we allowed only 250,000, which is less than 3% of the total stock. And so many roads were blocked in that too.
00:54 Unfortunately, if you look at the ministerial consumption, we had a surplus of 4 times more than what we allowed.
01:12 So, in the situation of surplus, what should the Ministry of Commerce do if it does not export?
01:20 I find it strange that the price is being added to the current price escalation.
01:27 If there was a shortage or an escalation, then you would have been pressurized from the market.
01:36 After 6 months, when your smuggling is going on at a great pace, and hoarding is also happening,
01:42 now you think that we allowed export 6 months ago, this is because of that.
01:48 So, this is just finding a scapegoat.
01:51 Smuggling is such a big issue that you can take any commodity, but Pakistan's economy is being smuggled very badly.
02:03 Whether it is imports of oil products from Iran, which are duty-free, or all our commodities, particularly those things that we subsidize, like fertilizer,
02:20 are smuggled out. Meat, which is not subsidized, but we try to keep it at a certain level, is also smuggled out.
02:33 Now, if we talk about sugar, it is also smuggled out.
02:37 So, if we do not have control over the borders, or if we turn the economy around so much that there is no arbitrage,
02:44 smugglers do not get any benefit, but this is what is happening, then everything will be smuggled out.
02:51 Even today, according to me, there are sufficient stocks in the country.
02:55 If you give a little administrative action where there are stocks, and all this will come to the market,
03:04 then you have 1.5 months, or 2 months, for the next crushing season to start.
03:11 So, there are more stocks than 1.5 months.
03:16 Why are governments so helpless that they stop exporting just because of one decision,
03:23 and then stop exporting everything, because prices may go up.
03:29 So, this is not fair.
03:30 Because the numbers that we had at that time, on the basis of which the decision was made,
03:35 they are so stark that how can you say that we should not export and keep it.
03:43 Because inevitably, the result of this would have been that where the sugar was smuggled out, it would have been smuggled out.
03:50 So, legitimately, if there was a need for some money to come to Pakistan,
03:55 we also want that to stop so that smugglers can grow.
04:00 This is not good economics.
04:03 Sir, it is not a matter of scapegoating or fairness, it is also a matter of competence.
04:07 When you gave permission in January, a plan was made for 45 days, but by 10 August, you continued to export.
04:14 And you took advantage of the complete international conditions, the PDM government.
04:18 But no one stopped, double-crossed and checked that the stats that are being given to us are correct or not.
04:23 Because the production and consumption numbers that were given by the Food Ministry,
04:26 did your ministry wet it on its own?
04:28 Export and domestic commerce is your own subject, right?
04:31 Sir, when was it? So, the claim was of 13 lakh tons surplus.
04:35 But the fact is that we are being told that there is a shortfall of 1.5 lakh tons.
04:38 We are seeing a miscalculation of 15 lakh tons here.
04:41 Stocks, consumption, production numbers, they seem to be all conveyed to you.
04:46 Look, we have to rely on the figures that come from two sources.
04:52 Either they come from the FVR, which is a more reliable figure because it is based on the taxation.
05:00 And the other is that the sugar mill associations give that this is our production for this year.
05:07 You can make any decision on the basis of that.
05:09 We cannot sit on the cruise and do it.
05:12 Like some people said, if you ask DC, DC does not know.
05:17 If you ask my district, DC, how much sugar will be produced in our district,
05:22 he has no clue on those things. So, you have to go to whatever is available.
05:30 Maybe it is not the most accurate way.
05:32 But the difference is so much between your consumption and production
05:41 that the error that comes in it is also covered in it.
05:46 So, we are talking about almost a million tons that have disappeared.
05:57 And I will come to that. But Mr. Naveed Kamal, you talk about collective responsibility again and again.
06:02 But what was your input in ECC as a commerce minister? I would like that on the record.
06:07 No, look, the summary of the commerce ministry in ECC was to export.
06:16 So, this is true to that extent because the commerce ministry will push for exports.
06:24 No one else will do it. Then we have to sit there in ECC and make a kind of characterization of what is and what is not.
06:32 So, based on the information we had, it was the right decision. And I think it is the right decision even today.
06:40 But sir, Mr. S. N. Iqbal, you were held responsible for the export of sugar, so it was right.
06:44 But when the PTI government left 7.5 million tons of record production,
06:49 left a 15 lakh ton reserve surplus, sugarcane crop was also great,
06:53 so they left 15 lakh tons and then 10 lakh tons more surplus was added,
06:57 which means we are talking about 25 lakh tons excess. You only exported 2.5 lakh tons.
07:02 And I agree, it is like salt in the flour. Where did the rest go, sir?
07:06 Because Senator Taj Haider is calling your party's 14 lakh tons of sugar smuggling directly.
07:13 Yes, where else will it go? Obviously, people won't even drink sugar syrup sitting at home.
07:21 This is all smuggling. Because there is a lot of arbitrage. The price in Pakistan when we did all this export,
07:32 the price was 100 dollars per metric ton difference.
07:36 Whether you look at the price of Kabul or London, it is very difficult to have so much arbitrage.
07:44 According to me, we should have exported more formally because eventually the same sugar went through the same sources.
07:57 So, the country would have benefited and some money would have been made.
08:00 But the conservative view was that no, take a little bit, so that somewhere…
08:06 But your job was to check the stocks.
08:09 price pressure I am I am.