Contact Your Financial Adviser Money Making MC
19
November 2018
 |
Sugar
(The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions)
Indonesia is interested in buying sugar from
India but wants latter to cut import duty on refined palm oil and the sweetener
substantially to 45 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively, according to
sources. An Indian delegation is scheduled to visit Indonesia this week to
negotiate trade between the two nations for these two commodities. While India
is the world's largest sugar producer with huge quantity of exportable surplus,
Indonesia is a major producer of edible oils, particularly palm. According to
sources, India is in talks with various countries including China and Indonesia
to export surplus sugar and help mills clear cane arrears to farmers
The Indonesian government is believed to have
communicated that it was "not averse" to a bilateral arrangement with
India on palm oil and sugar but it would take a long time to bring changes to
the existing law for facilitating trade, the sources said. Instead, Indonesia
has suggested a trading arrangement under the India-ASEAN free trade agreement
(FTA) so that import duty on refined palm oil and sugar is harmonised to 45 per
cent and 5 per cent, respectively, to facilitate trade, the sources added.
Indonesia has argued that the Comprehensive
Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) between India and Malaysia will come into
effect from January next year that provides for a preferential import duty of
45 per cent on refined oil as opposed to 50 per cent duty under the India-ASEAN
FTA. At present, India levies import duty of 54 per cent on refined palm oil,
44 per cent on crude palm oil and 100 per cent on sugar. India imports 14-15
million tonne (MT) of vegetable oils (edible and non-edible) annually to meet
is domestic demand. The country imports palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia,
while soyabean oil from Brazil and Argentina.
However in case of sugar, the country is
sitting on a surplus stock of over 10 MT on record production last year and
expected bumper output this year as well. Indian government has asked millers
to export 5 MT of sugar mandatorily this year and even given financial
assistance to facilitate trade. So far, 8,00,000 tonne of the sweetener has
been exported. The country has produced 32.5 MT of sugar in 2017-18 marketing
year (October-September). The Total
Investment & Insurance Solutions
No comments:
Post a Comment