India May Levy Sugar Import Tax in August-September (Update1).

India, the world’s largest sugar buyer, may decide on imposing duty on imports in August or September, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said.

The levy may be effective from the new crop year starting Oct. 1, Pawar told reporters in New Delhi today. India deferred a decision on June 25 to slap a tariff on the refined variety, citing high domestic prices, a government official said.

The South Asian nation allowed duty-free imports as prices doubled last year after dry weather reduced domestic production and excess rain damaged the crop in Brazil, the biggest grower. White, or refined, sugar for October delivery rose as much as 2.7 percent to $505 a metric ton in London.

India has allowed duty-free imports of white and raw sugar until Dec. 31 to bolster supplies and cool food-price inflation. The Indian Sugar Mills Association has been seeking a tax to encourage purchases of domestic supplies that are forecast to increase enough to meet demand.

Sugar stockpiles will jump 53 percent in the year ending Sept. 30, according to the association. The nation will end the season with 4.9 million tons of the sweetener compared with 3.2 million tons a year ago, the producers’ group said on June 14.

Sugar Production

Sugar production in India, the world’s biggest user, will be 24 million to 25 million metric tons in the year starting Oct. 1 because of an increase in the area planted to cane, Vinay Kumar, managing director of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd., said in a telephone interview on July 1. There won’t be any need to import the sweetener, he said.

“If this situation continues, this is the proper time to lift control on sugar,” Farm Minister Pawar said.

The government controls the sugar market by telling mills how much they should sell each month.

Pawar, 69, said he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today and asked the premier to ease his work burden. Pawar, who currently heads two ministries, wants to devote more time to serve his Nationalist Congress Party, he said.

Source : Business Week