Interview
Q: Please tell us about yourself, your early life, family and education.
Mr. Ebrahim Hasham (EH):I was born in 1947 in Kharadar, Karachi. I received my early education in Karachi. At the age of 12, I went to Murree in 1959. I studied there for sometime. In 1960, I went to Chittagong, the then East Pakistan, where I did some of my studies in a missionary school. I did my Matriculation from Saint Pat’s school in 1964. In 1966, I did my Intermediate from FC College Lahore. After my Inter, I did my BA Honors economics from Karachi University in 1970. Then, I did my Masters in Management, HR from California-USA in 1973. I also worked for a year and a half and I financed 50% of my education doing different jobs. I worked as an office boy in the early days and finally I was an Assistant Manager in a finance company. That’s how I lived in early part of my life; doing job whole day and taking evening classes.
I had 3 brothers, one of them; Usman has died due to Brain Haimbridge. Now I have 2 brothers; one of them is elder to me and the other one is younger. Both are into our family business.
I am married and my wife is an Interior Designer. In 1936 we used to live in a mud house but today we have a very good house in Clifton. God has been very kind. We have 2 children; Iqra and Ahmed. Iqra is married and Ahmed is doing business with me for last 6 years. He is qualified from Boston-USA.
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Q: Please briefly tell us about the Mehran Sugar Mills. How many employees do you have?
(EH):My father started business at age of 10 in India in 1936 near Delhi; first as a trader and then as an industrialist. I did my first job in 1964 during my summer holidays when I went to Mardan to learn tobacco purchase. Mehran Sugar Mill started in 1967. My father was a great business icon. We have 2 types of employees; permanent and contractual. We have about 400 permanent employees. And during seasons we have around 900 employees. Seasons depend upon the crop. If the crop is huge, the season is long and the employees are large in number.
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Q: Where do you see the sugar industry in Pakistan?
(EH): The future of the sugar industry in Pakistan looks good because our maximum production capacity in the sugar sector is about 6.5 Million tons sugar. We are producing 4.5 million currently. So there is a great margin for increasing our production.
If we can manage to increase the growth, which is very much possible because the growers want to grow more, the crop will be substantial and we will have more sugar. If the growers are given proper incentives and proper recovery is ensured, through joint efforts of all concerns, then all the problems of sugar industry as well as the farmers will be solved. But for that, we need to come up with a joint effort from all the stakeholders. We also need to take it as a national perceptive not just local.
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Q: What problems does the sugar industry have to face in Pakistan?
(EH):The major problem that sugar industry is facing right now is the high sugarcane prices. Sugar export is profitable, but in the local market it’s about break-even or even minus in some cases because of the high cane prices. It’s the highest cane price in the world. There is also a very low recovery. We get about 8.5 - 9 percent recovery, India gets 10-11, Australia gets 14, and Brazil also gets 14. The reason for our problems is the government policy, because there are no incentives given to us or the growers. Actually, where the farmers are we are not there. So we can not be vocal to them. We are not satisfied with the government policies. We keep telling them but nothing is done as yet. The crop of cane last year was 4.5 - 4.6 Million tons, so its surplus by about 300,000 tons. When there is surplus, the prices compress. Even though the prices in the international market have gone high by 25 - 30 per ton, but we are still getting lower prices than international market due to whatever reasons. About 200,000 tons of sugar was exported from Pakistan this year. It’s not true that this export was made at the cost of local demand because we exported the surplus sugar.
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Q: The inflation rate in Pakistan has been increasing rapidly in the last few years. The prices of commodities are getting out of reach of the poor. How do you see the situation and what solution would you suggest for the same?
(EH):With rising commodity prices and rising income level, demand will outstrip supply. The solution is to increase the growth of the cane crop. We also need to put efforts in areas like Research and Development (R&D), farmers-government co-operation, funds, Human Resource etc. We should believe that we can make it happen. We should keep our hopes alive but we should work in all these areas.
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Q: What do you expect from the new government?
(EH):The only thing that we want from the government is practice a common sense. Government must make sure that they don’t involve politics in business. The corruption should be eliminated. The misuse of power should be stopped. The problem is that the politician thinks for the next election, whereas the statesman thinks for the next generation. Unfortunately, in our country, we have politicians, not statesmen. That’s why those who come into power they make policies thinking about the next elections, not the next generation. This is why we don’t have any next generation policy. Our policies are short-term.
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