IKAR in Mass and Industry Media

Russia gov't delays higher sugar import duty approval

Reuters

MOSCOW, Jan 30 (Reuters) - A Russian government body delayed approving a higher import tariff on raw cane sugar due to an investigation by an anti-monopoly body into a sugar price rise at the start of the year, the government said on Friday.

It said on its Web site www.government.ru that the government Commission for Protective Measures in Foreign Trade, the body in charge of drafting government resolutions on customs tariffs, will re-address raising the tariff in the near future.

Industry lobby Russian Sugar Producers' Union said last week the government planned to raise the basic rate of the tariff to $180 per tonne from $140 per tonne from June 1.

White sugar prices rose sharply in the first weeks of the year in rouble terms mainly due to the weakening of the national currency, the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) has said. But last week prices dropped from previous highs. The government statement said that the commission, which in the past had met irregularly, would now hold meetings on a bi-weekly basis.

24.02.09

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