New guideline to check illegal sugar imports

The Tariff Authority for Major Ports (Tamp) has come out with a new guideline to arrest illegal storage of sugar and pulses at the Indian ports. Under this, storage of sugar and pulses at the ports beyond three days would be penalised.

The Ministry of Shipping on August 21 had asked TAMP to modify demurrage charges/licence fee in respect of sugar and pulses levied at the port area, according to a senior port official.

Under the revised guideline, the free period will be for the first three days when the commodities can be stored without paying any fee. The ministry would levy twice the existing demurrage from the 4th day till the 10th day. This will be three times from the 11th day till the 20th day and will be four-fold from the 21st to the 30th day. No cargo would be allowed to remain in the port after 30 days.

According to the Tamp order, a copy of which is available with Business Standard, the government is of the view that storage of sugar and pulses in the port area after import, including licensed area, should be discouraged in view of the increasing prices of these essential commodities.

The revised storage guidelines will come into immediate effect and will be in existence till March 31, 2010.

According to industry sources, the country is expected to import two million tonne of raw sugar and one million tonne of white sugar. Sugar imports are expected to hit a record 2.5 million tonne in 2009-10.