Pakistan's government may soon be selling abroad sugar it bought from abroad barely a year ago. The Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Wednesday considered a proposal from the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to invite international tenders for the export of 108,000 tonnes of sugar held by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP). The stock is what remains of 300,000 tonnes imported last year on the advice of a cabinet-approved steering committee.

The leftover represents more than a third of last year's import. That a substantial share of the sugar has gone unused raises questions about how the original purchase was sized, although the official statement offered no explanation for the surplus or for the decision to sell it overseas.

The meeting was chaired by Muhammad Aurangzeb, the federal minister for finance and revenue, according to a press release issued by the finance ministry. The statement said the committee had considered the proposal, without specifying whether it had been formally approved.

Any sale would follow official procurement procedures. The international tender process is to be conducted strictly in line with the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) Rules, 2004, which govern how public bodies buy and sell goods.

Senior figures from across the economic ministries attended the session. They included Rana Tanveer Hussain, minister for national food security and research; Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, minister for investment; and Haroon Akhtar Khan, the prime minister's adviser on industries and production, together with federal secretaries and other senior officials.

Key details remain undisclosed. The statement did not reveal the price at which the sugar was imported, the price expected from an export sale or the potential gain or loss to the exchequer. Those figures will ultimately show whether the round trip of importing and then re-exporting the commodity has cost the state money.