AsiaNet-Pakistan Premier Editorial Content and Press Release Distribution Service
Islamabad: A prominent business leader has raised concerns over the significant influence wielded by Pakistan’s sugar mill lobby, which has been able to shape state resources and agricultural policies. This growing dominance, he warns, threatens the country’s textile industry and broader economic stability.
Shahid Rasheed Butt, former president of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has called for immediate action to address what he describes as a “mafia-like grip” on state resources and agricultural policy-making.
Speaking to the business community, Mr. Butt pointed out a troubling trend. Fertile land historically used for cotton, critical to Pakistan’s largest export industry, is increasingly being converted to sugarcane cultivation, despite existing surpluses in sugar production.
This shift has significant economic implications. Pakistan’s textile sector, responsible for 60 percent of national exports and employing millions, is under pressure. As cotton production declines, the country’s dependence on imports grows, further straining the fragile trade balance.
Cotton growers face challenges with shrinking acreage, inconsistent support, and water shortages, while the sugar industry continues to expand through subsidies, guaranteed prices, and access to irrigation.
Data indicates that cotton production in 2024-25 fell to 6.42 million bales, 41% below target, primarily due to a 22% decline in cultivated area. To bridge the gap, Pakistan imported over 1.5 million bales of cotton and 1.25 million bales of yarn, depleting its foreign exchange reserves.
During the same period, sugar production rose to 5.77 million metric tons, with domestic inventories reaching nearly 4 million metric tons, exceeding national demand. Despite warnings, the government approved the export of over 765,000 metric tons of sugar, only to later authorize the import of up to 350,000 metric tons as local prices surged to Rs200 per kilogram. This cycle of subsidized exports followed by costly imports has left the public frustrated.
Mr. Butt attributes this mismanagement to deliberate policy choices influenced by powerful lobbies rather than economic logic or national interest. He warned that the unchecked influence of the sugar lobby could cause irreversible damage to the textile industry, threatening job losses and reducing foreign exchange earnings, both of which are critically needed.
His remarks have reignited the debate over the urgent need for structural reforms in the agricultural sector, including an independent review of land use and subsidy policies that currently reward political patronage over productivity.
As mass unemployment looms and rural distress deepens, Shahid Rasheed Butt stressed that delaying reform would only exacerbate the crisis. “Without immediate action, we’re leaving future generations to bear the cost of today’s misplaced loyalties,” he stated.
This controversy underscores the challenges Pakistan’s economy faces as it navigates inflation, energy shortages, and the need to balance competing agricultural and industrial interests in a constrained fiscal environment.