Decision on sugar import duty revision only after 3 months: Sharad Pawar.

NEW DELHI: Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said the government will take a call on revising import duty on white and raw sugar only after three months taking into account the progress made in crushing.

At present, import duty on white sugar as well as raw sugar is at 10 per cent each.

The Food Ministry is working on a cabinet note to raise import duty on white sugar to 20 per cent to avoid flooding of the sweetener in the domestic market and check prices. It is also mulling scrapping of import duty on raw sugar.

Asked if the time is apt for revising the import duty structure on sugar, Pawar said, "Let us wait for sometime."

"One can wait for three months and see how much crushing is happening and how much sugar will be produced in the country and then take a view on changing import duty on white and raw sugar," he told reporters.

The crushing has just started this month and it needs to be seen how it picks up in the coming months, he added.

Recently, Pawar had said the total sugar output in the country is likely to be 23.5-24 million tonnes in the 2012-13 marketing year (October-September), lower from 26.2 million tonnes in the previous year. The annual demand for sugar is 22 million tonnes.

On sugar sector decontrol, he said: "The Food Ministry has not yet discussed the issue with me. But I have got a copy of the PMEAC report".

The Ministry has said it would like to discuss the matter with certain industry members as part of the process, he said.

In May, sugar exports were brought under the Open General Licence (OGL) for one year and this has been extended further till September 2013.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com