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IKAR in Mass Media

Higher Russian sugar import duty seen in Dec-FinMin

24 сентября 2007 года

MOSCOW, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Russia, the world's largest raw sugar buyer, is likely to adopt a long-awaited higher seasonal tariff on raw cane imports from December, a Finance Ministry official said on Tuesday.

"We are doing everything in our power to help the Economic Development and Trade Ministry present a draft resolution to the government so that it can be passed in time," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Industry lobby the Russian Sugar Producers' Union has backed the introduction of a $250 per tonne tariff from January to May and in December 2008, instead of the current $140, to protect domestic sugar beet growers and refiners from excessive exports.

Government departments involved in the process have disagreed over the tariff level. The union in July agreed to a lower tariff rate of $220 per tonne. [ID:nL30734994] The official said Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin had endorsed the draft. But the Justice Ministry demanded another endorsement, quoting technicalities in the original.

"I hope Kudrin will give his visa today or tomorrow, after which the draft can go through the usual channels," he said.

Under Russian law, a draft resolution agreed by all parties involved must be passed by the government's Commission for Protective Measures in Foreign Trade, chaired by Economy Minister German Gref.

The draft must then be signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and published in the government gazette, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, to become effective.

ENDORSEMENT

Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to "examine the issue of stimulating investments in sugar production, including setting higher seasonal import tariffs," by Aug. 1.

An Economy Ministry source told Reuters in August that the ministry expected the government this month to examine setting the tariff for six months from December 2007.

On Tuesday, an Economy Ministry spokeswoman could not say if or when the commission would meet to examine the tariff. A draft can also be passed without a formal meeting, as it is sufficient for all members to endorse it separately.

The Russian Sugar Producers' Union declined to comment.

Russia consumes about 5.8 million tonnes of sugar a year, refining more than half of it from domestic beet. Most of the remainder is refined from imported raw cane sugar, of which Brazil, Cuba and Thailand are the main suppliers.

The producers' union and analysts have said the country could refine a record 3.4 million tonnes of beet sugar this year, up from 3.3 million tonnes in 2006.

The independent Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) said in its September monthly report that it expected raw sugar imports to rise to 400,000 tonnes in September and October combined on expectations of the seasonal tariff.

In September and October last year, Russia imported 76,126 tonnes of raw sugar, it said. It imported around 2.4 million tonnes of raws in the first eight months of this year, up from 2.12 million in the same period a year ago.

Source: Reuters  |  #sugar   |  Comments: 0   Views: 72

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