UPDATE 1-Pakistan to import 1 mln tonnes of sugar

(Adds detail, rice exports, background)

By Augustine Anthony

ISLAMABAD, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Pakistan will import 500,000 tonnes of raw sugar and 500,000 tonnes of refined sugar to meet domestic needs, a cabinet minister said on Wednesday.

The government would also try to maintain a strategic reserve of 500,000 tonnes to cover shortages, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told a news conference after a cabinet meeting.

Pakistan is expecting 3 million tonnes of refined sugar from the 2009/10 crop against annual domestic demand of 4.2 million tonnes, he said.

"There is a gap of more than 1 million tonnes and it has been decided to import 500,000 of raw sugar and 500,000 tonnes of refined sugar," Kaira said. He did not say when the sugar would be imported.

Kaira said imports of raw sugar would be timed so local sugar millers would have the spare capacity to process it alongside the domestic crop.

A top industry official on Tuesday said raw sugar imports had to come within weeks so it can be processed along with the domestic crop this crushing season, which usually lasts until the first week of March.

Sugar mills in the southern province of Sindh will start crushing cane from the new crop by next week, according to industry officials. Kaira said mills in Punjab province would start crushing from Nov. 15.