Raw Sugar Entering India via Southern Ports

As soon as festive season starts, families start to pack their refrigerators with sweets, Sweet shops starts to pack their accounts with profits and the very important ingredient in all of this packing is SUGAR. For a economic festival, there should be plenty of supply of the product in the market. For keeping the supply firm, The government allowed import of 3 lakh metric tonnes of raw sugar through southern ports of country at concessional duty of 25 per cent to augment domestic supplies ahead of the festive season. The import shall be open to millers and refiners who have their own capacity to convert raw sugar into refined product.

The imports will be allowed through the ports of Tuticorin, Karaikal, Chennai, Mangalore, Kakinada, Gangavaram and Vishakapatnam in the South. The scheme shall be operated by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade as per their rules and regulations. Applications shall be received online by DGFT at sugarimporttrq-dgft@nic.in from 8th to 12th of this month. Details of the scheme can be seen on the website of DGFT www.dgft.gov.in.

In July, government hiked import duty on sugar to 50 per cent from 40 per cent to curb the dumping of the commodity in country as international prices fell. Sugar prices are to go down after the imports in the country take place, amidst the huge supply of the product. Lately the government also released notification for the early crushing of sugarcane this season, by early October to keep the supply static keeping in mind the abundant demand before the festive season.