Pakistan Extends Tax Stamps to Sugar Mills

Following the roll-out of secure track and trace on domestically manufactured tobacco products, Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has now extended the system to the next sector ‘on its list’: sugar.

All 78 sugar mills across the country have therefore been equipped with track and trace technology, which allows for production monitoring, product movement control and product authentication. In addition to the equipment installed on the manufacturing lines, the system comprises dedicated handheld equipment, smartphone applications, and highly secure digitised tax stamps.

Tax evasion in the sugar sector is estimated at 20-25% of the total market, and the track and trace system is intended to help the FBR gauge the real production levels of every sugar mill in order to ultimately recover the correct tax amounts.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate the sugar track and trace system towards the end of November, after which the FBR will extend the system to the last two sectors on its list – cement and fertilizer – by early 2022.

The track and trace systems for all four sectors are provided by a consortium of three companies – Authentix, MITAS Corporation and AJCL Private Ltd – under a licence agreement awarded in March 2021. The agreement covers an initial five-year term, with a three-year extension option.