Ministry of Trade Readjusts Sugar Import Regulations

The Ministry of Trade recently signed a decision regulating the management of imported sugar quotas this year, said Deputy Minister of Trade, Phan The Rue.

 

Under the decision, the ministry is to allocate 30 per cent of imported sugar to traders to sell in the domestic market, 30 per cent to refineries, another 30 per cent to enterprises requiring sugar for production, while the remaining 10 per cent is to be stockpiled to stabilize market prices when necessary, it said.

 

The ministry also revealed that it would grant licenses to seven large enterprises to import various grades of sugarcane; one in Hanoi, two in Ho Chi Minh City, one in Haiphong, one in Danang, one under Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and one under the Ministry of Trade (MoT) itself.

 

According to industry analysts, the cane sugar most needed for import is Category 1701 of the current preferential tariff. Enterprises that import Category 1701 for export production do not need to ask for MoT permission.

 

The government recently permitted the importation of 160,000 tons of sugar for domestic consumption in a move to stabilize the domestic sugar market and avert excessive price hikes.

 

However, because prices continued to climb on international markets, Vietnamese enterprises have imported only moderate volumes. As of the end of March, only 40,000 tons of sugar had been imported, the MoT said.

 

The domestic market witnessed sharp increases in prices for both raw and refined sugar in recent months. Raw sugarcane now trades at VND600,000-700,000 per ton, up from VND400,000 in the previous crop, while retail refined sugar sells at VND12,500-13,500 per kilo, up by VND300-500 per kilo earlier in the year.

 

The nation’s 37 sugar refineries bought and processed 7.1 million tons of raw sugarcane in the first quarter of this year, down from 9.6 million tons in the same period last year, to produce more than 630,000 tons of refined sugar, 22 per cent om-year.

 

The MARD projected total sugar output from the 2005-2006 crop would reach 970,000 tons, while demand is estimated at 1.35 million tons, indicating a shortfall of nearly 380,000 tons.