IKAR in Mass Media

Russia to cut raw sugar import tariff from May

08 мая 2009 года

MOSCOW, April 28 (Reuters) - Russia will cut its raw cane sugar import tariff to $165 per tonne from May 1, from $220 per tonne now, the government said in an order published on Tuesday.

The order, published in the government gazette Rossiiskaya Gazeta, allows Russia to keep the tariff, which is pegged to the sugar price in New York, within a range of $165 to $270 per tonne until Dec. 31.

The lowest tariff rate of $165 per tonne is pegged to the average price of white sugar futures of $198.43 per tonne and above in the three months preceding its introduction. The rate will be set by the Economy Ministry every month.

The highest level of the tariff, $270 per tonne, may be used if the sugar price falls below $112.44 per tonne in New York.

The government's Commission for Protective Measures in Foreign Trade, the body responsible for drafting government orders on customs tariffs, recommended in March that the tariff be cut a month earlier than previously planned.

Russia, the world's No. 2 raw sugar buyer, has regulated imports with a base tariff of $140 per tonne, applying a seasonal tariff rate of $220-270 in the six months from December.

The rate of the seasonal tariff, aimed at protecting domestic sugar beet growers and refiners from excessive imports, is also pegged to New York prices and has been kept at its lower level of $220 per tonne.

An analyst said raw sugar imports were not expected to rise substantially from year-ago levels after the tariff cut.

"Some 310,000 tonnes have been contracted for unloading in April and May and another 130,000 tonnes are on their way to Black Sea ports," Yevgeny Ivanov of the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) told Reuters.

"In April and May together last year, imports were 430,000 tonnes, practically the same volume."

Industry lobby the Russian Sugar Producers' Union expects raw sugar imports this year to fall to 2 million tonnes from 2.29 million tonnes in 2008.

Russia, which consumed around 5.7 million tonnes of white sugar last year, refined a record 3.55 million tonnes from the 2008 domestic beet crop. (Reporting by Aleksandras Budrys; editing by Sue Thomas)

Source: Reuters | #sugar | Comments: 0 Views: 67

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