Russian sugar refining from raws down

Russia refined 313,500 tonnes of white sugar from imported raws from the start of the year to March 10, down 6.6 percent from year-ago volumes, industry lobby the Russian Sugar Producers Union said on Wednesday. Russia restricted imports of raw cane sugar through a seasonal tariff of $220-270 per tonne from December 2008 to May 2009, replacing the previous tariff of $140 per tonne.
A year ago, a tariff of $220 per tonne was in force. The Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) said in its March sugar report that the imports of the sweetener fell to 39,000 tonnes in February from 90,000 in January and from 81,410 tonnes in February 2008. These volumes included sugar meant for refining in Russia and exports of the received white sugar to other countries. IKAR expects Russian sugar imports to be 50,000 tonnes in March, compared with 142,780 tonnes in March 2008.