A woman shops for sugar at supermarket. (Photo: nld.com.vn) Hanoi (VNA) - The tax onimported sugar, as stipulated by the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA),will be maintained at 5 percent from the beginning of this year, instead ofzero percent as previously rumoured.
This was announced in Decree 156/2017/NĐ-CP,stipulating Vietnam’s special preferential import taxes in ATIGA for the2018-22 period.
According to the Vietnam Sugar andSugarcane Association (VSSA), this was a good sign for the local sugarindustry, as they would face difficulties if the tax was lowered to zero percent.
The association said that the price ofshares of some sugar companies in 2017 were continuously falling, mainlybecause producers were afraid of competition from sugar importers if the zero percenttax had been actually imposed on imported sugar.
VSSA’s figures indicated that the wholesaleprice of sugar last month was 12,700-14,000 VND per kilo, a decline of 200-300 VNDper kilo over the previous month.
By maintaining the 5 percent import taxunder ATIGA, together with abundant sugar supplies and lower selling prices,local businesses would not import sugar from other countries.
By the end of last year, sugar inventorieswere some 240,000 tonnes.
VSSA said the sugar supply would meet thecountry’s demand in the first month of 2018, even with increased sales duringthe upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) Holiday.
Sugarcane is cultivated on more than300,000ha across the country, employing 330,000 households, or 1.5 million farmers,and 350,000 workers. - VNA
VNA
