Iran slashed private sector sugar import tariffs to 50 percent from 150 percent to stimulate buying and lower the price of the sweetener in the local market, a senior commerce ministry official said on Saturday.
"Sugar import tariffs have been reduced to 50 percent from 150 percent," a senior commerce ministry official, who declined to be named, told Reuters. "This is to help importers from the private sector and reduce local prices."
State imports of key commodities including sugar are carried out by Government Trading Company (GTC) and free from tariffs. Iran lifted a ban on sugar imports by private firms in 2001, allowing factories and traders to buy the sweetener from abroad.
Iran's Deputy Commerce Minister Hassan Younes Sinaki said this month that raw sugar imports by the state in the year to March 2006 would total 352,000 tonnes, adding that 170,000 tonnes had already been imported.
Iran says it produced 1.4 million tonnes of sugar in the year to March 2005. But an industry source told Reuters the figure included processing of raw sugar imported and processed into white sugar by local factories.
The GTC imported 321,000 tonnes of raw sugar in the year to March 2005. Domestic consumption in the same period stood at 1.8 million tonnes.
Comments
Comments are closed.