Vietnam's 2007-08 Sugar Crop Ends Need for Imports
Vietnam will not have to import sugar after the 2007-2008 crop, as domestic sugar refineries are expected to fulfill local demand, according the Ministry of Trade.
The ministry reported total sugarcane production in the 2006-2007 crop at 17.58 million tons, with a sugar production of about 1.4 million tons, up 27 per cent from the previous crop.
With estimated consumption of about one million tons, Vietnam will not need sugar imports after the next crop.
Under Vietnam’s commitments to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the country will set a quota of 55,000 tons of sugar imports in 2007, annually increasing by 5 per cent after that.
In the meantime, the country will impose import tax of 25 per cent on brown sugar and 40 per cent on white sugar. However, tariffs will gradually decrease to 6 per cent at most by 2012.
Vietnam will lower sugar tariffs to 30 per cent in 2007 and 5 per cent in 2010 under the roadmap of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Free Trade Area.
World sugar prices have dropped in the last months, and limited domestic market sugar demand also led to reduction in domestic prices. (Vietnam Economic Times)
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