Trade Ministry Allows 7 Firms to Import Sugar

The Ministry of Trade has decided to license seven large enterprises to import various grades of sugar shortly despite the proposal raised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for the removal of granting quotas and licenses for sugar imports.

 

The selected enterprises consist of one firm 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.

 

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 MARD and the MoT in early May requested that the Government lift the mechanism of granting import licenses and quotas so that enterprises can become more active in importing sugar to meet domestic consumption demand.

 

According to industry analysts, the 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 by the end of August 2006 in a move to stabilize the domestic sugar market and avert excessive price hikes.

 

However, because prices continued to climb in 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.