Govt mulls import duty cut on sugar

The government is now planning to reduce import duty on sugar to tame its spiraling price in the local market.

As of Tuesday, sugar was being sold at Tk80 per kilogramme, up from Tk70 per kg just a week ago.

The Ministry of Commerce is scheduled to hold a meeting in this regard on Wednesday with stakeholders to review the present status of the essential commodities prices in the market.

Following the meeting, the ministry will forward its decision in a letter to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) recommending a duty cut of import duty on sugar import.

Currently, importers have to pay Tk3,000 to import a tonne of non-refined sugar. In addition, they have to pay 30 per cent supplementary duty, 2 per cent Advanced Income Tax (AIT) and 15 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) per tonne.

“In response to our query, traders informed that the price of sugar had increased in the local market due to a rise in global prices and freight costs,” a commerce ministry official told the Business Post.

“In the given context, we are going to recommend a cut on import duty to reduce the price of sugar in the local market,” the official added.

“As the price of sugar depends on the global market and we have set our price based on that. Now the global market is volatile, which had impacted the local market price,” City Group Director Biswajit Shaha told The Business post.

If the government cuts import duty, it will help to reduce the price of sugar in the local market, he added.