The Russian Sugar Producers' Union, the industry lobby, said on Friday it expects a raw cane sugar import tariff to stay at $140 per tonne for April, despite earlier saying it had expected a higher tariff next month.
Under the Russian tariff calculation scheme, the tariff rate is set by the Economy Ministry monthly and is pegged to the average New York futures price for the three preceding months. The current rate is the lowest. Russia, the world's biggest raw sugar importer, has kept the tariff at the current level for the past 17 months.
The Russian Sugar Producers' Union previously said the tariff will be substituted by a seasonal tariff of $250 per tonne to be set for five months from some time in April. Setting a new tariff is a lengthy process, requiring a government order to be approved by various institutions, signed by the prime minister and officially published. The Economy Ministry said on Monday the new tariff was unlikely to be set in April due to red tape.
Russia expects to have refined 3.3 million tonnes of sugar from domestic beet in 2006, an all-time high volume and sufficient to cover more than half its demand.
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