Yes literally. Today I read in news that Pakistan is leading the region in per person annual sugar consumption. On average, every Pakistani is now consuming 25 kilograms of sugar every year. Please take few seconds to think about it. Take your eyes off the monitor and for few seconds imagine what I just wrote….shabash – Teek hai – bilkul Teek – every Pakistani…25 kilograms of sugar….in one year. wow.
Trailing behind Pakistan are other countries of the region like India with 14 kg/person, China with 11 kg/person and Bangladesh with 10 kg/person.
It is expected that in 2009, Pakistan’s sugar demand is going to be 4,350,000 tonnes. Pakistan is expected to produce 3,600,000 tonnes of sugar locally while the rest will have to be imported.
I also want to quote a line from a Urdu daily today which reads like this:
The sweet obsessed Pakistani nation consumes sugar worth of Rs 200 billion annually
The above situation however, does not give us the complete picture of what is currently going on with sugar market in Pakistan.
With the advent of Ramzan, and amidst all rumors of usual sugar hoarding there is a full fledge sugar crisis at hand in Pakistan. I am sure most of our readers are aware of the usual blame game that is going on between Govt and opposition on who is making the most profit. But the reality on street is that price of sugar in retail has hit Rs 52/kilogram in Karachi market and in rest of the country it is even higher. Government is claiming that utility stores will sell sugar for Rs 38/kg but when will it happen, remains to be seen.
Few days ago I was reviewing Shahabnama where it was mentioned that once in Ayub Khan’s time sugar shortage happened. Ayub Khan’s agriculture minister in those days was A. Hoti who overnight got the laqab of cheeni chor (sugar thief) from the public. Where ever this Minister went people used to shout ‘cheeni chor cheeni chor’. It is said that Minister actually took the title to heart and remedied the situation by going against sugar hoarders. Times have changed. Today I think any protest like this will not even ‘move a lice on the ear’ (kan pe jooN rengna) of any Minister.
So as I see it we have two issues at hand. While government needs to come hard on sugar hoarders and official planners who couldn’t foresee an impending shortage before hand, we as a nation also need to cut down on our ‘cheeni’ (sugar – not Chinese) consumption.
Did I also mention yet that same news which talked about 25kg/yr number also claimed that every 5th Pakistani is diabetic. While I cannot confirm this number, you can see the direct connection between the two phenomena. 25kg sugar = 0.2×178 = 35.6 million diabetic patients in Pakistan. wow.
I’ll close this post on this famous Urdu idiom:
meetha meetha hup hup, kaRwa kaRwa thoo thoo (sweet attraction, bitter repulsion)
Sugar Trivia:
Despite Pakistan’s enormous sugar consumption we still lag other regions like North America where annual sugar consumption is 38 kg/per person. Oceania including Australia is 45 kg/person and in South America annual sugar consumption is 46.5 kg/person.
References:
1. Pride News
2. Pakistan Sugar Annual Report 2009
3. Trends in Global Sugar Consumption
Photo Credits: Murad Ali Shah and ZAK!
Sindh Interior Minister Zulfiqar Mirza , husband of Dr.Fehmida Mirza and have taken bath in NRO has 6 sugar mills .Now guess who is behind all these games !
i m still thinking trying to come out of the surprise that i use 25 kg sugar a year. i mean wow yaar and i never knew it
Tina@
-I am still smiling while writing this, after having read Your comment `e spice lement
Much depends on the kind of sugar consumed, also. Pakistan’s cane sugar used in daily cooking is pure and not so bad, esp. if unrefined.
The American sugar made from corn syrup, the kind found in soft drinks, is concentrated so intensely it should be classified as a drug and is a serious health risk in any quantity.
So it’s not really sugar per se that is the problem but HCS.
Those who make an effort to make halwas, gulab jamuns, jalabis, etc. with cane sugar or honey can still enjoy their sweets without much health risk.
On another topic, obesity and diabetes are health risks for the wealthy in all countries where the weather is hot and walking on the street is unsafe, and going for outings with your kids is risky, etc. What can a very wealthy person do in Pakistan (and countries like it) besides stay inside his big house and watch Star TV, anyway? Talk about life in a gilded cage!
Just my two cents….
On Avg Pakistanis consume 25kg sugar. It may be way more.
As we have 30% or so who are chronic poor and majority of rest are transitionary poor so I don’t think they can afford to consume this much sugar :-) We must be consuming way more than 25 kg.
But point is well taken..
Per USDA, daily recommended sugar is 10 teaspoons or 40 grams.This amounts to 14.6 kg/year.
Per year, we take ~10 kg more than recommend dose of Sugar.
How to lover your sugar intake? Quit saying Dil Mangta hay Pepsi…you will get diabetic..then Dil will ask for insulin injections..
http://tinyurl.com/m2q9gw
-Shiraz