Sugar Price Gouging Gets Smacked Down, Government Drops the Hammer

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar roared into action Wednesday, torching the outrageous Rs178-180 per kg sugar racket as a slap in the face to every Pakistani. He’s ramming through a brutal price cap—Rs164 per kg retail, Rs159 per kg ex-mills—effective immediately. No more profiteering nonsense.

Fresh off a war-room meeting on sugar costs, Dar unleashed a sub-committee to rip apart this mess and deliver a battle plan within 30 days. This isn’t a suggestion—it’s a direct order from the prime minister to crush the Ramadan price explosion that’s been choking the nation. Dar’s verdict? “Unacceptable. Full stop.”

Leading the charge is National Food Security Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain, with a deadline of April 19 to bring the hammer down with solutions. The sugar mills crew tried to spin their excuses, but Dar wasn’t buying it—hours of gritty talks laid bare their game.

The meeting packed heavy hitters: Food Security’s Rana Tanveer Hussain, Law and Justice’s Azam Nazeer Tarar, PM Adviser Haroon Akhtar, sugar mill cronies, and top brass. No one’s hiding from this fight.

Dar’s on a mission: affordable sugar or bust. He’s floating a savage two-tier pricing system to gut costs even more, while tipping his hat to the Sugar Mills Association for coughing up Rs130 per kg sugar at all 274 Sasta Bazaars. Generosity? More like survival.

He doubled down—Pakistan’s sugar stash is stacked, so imports are off the table. And if anyone dares fake a shortage? They’ll wish they hadn’t. Dar’s ready to bury them.