Sugar Imports May Attract 60% Duty From Today.

India's sugar production set to exceed domestic demand, the government is likely to re-impose 60% import duty on sugar from Friday.

“The duty free notification lapses on today and from April 1 it automatically reverts back to the old duty structure,” the official source said. Import duty on sugar was abolished in early 2009 to boost domestic supply in view of production dip in the 2008-09 sugar year (October-September). Before that, the import duty on sugar was 60%. The duty-free regime was valid till on Thursday.

India had imported about 6 million tonne of sugar since February 2009 to meet domestic demand.

Sugar production of India, the world's second largest producer, had fallen to 14.7 million tonne in 2008-09 against the annual domestic demand of 22 million tonne. In 2009-10, the output improved to 19 million tonne, but was still short of demand.

However, in the current sugar year, the production is expected to outstrip demand at 24.5 million tonne and the country has started exporting the sweetener.

Domestic Prices have also softened to R30-32 per kg in the national capital from nearly R50 per kg in mid-January 2010.

Source : financialexpress.com