Pakistani Sugar Mills Seek Higher Import Duty

The organisation of Pakistani sugar mills urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday to increase import duty on sugar to protect the local industry.

Heavy taxes, rising cost of sugarcane and the government's subsidy to importers has put domestic sugar at a disadvantage, Pakistan Sugar Mills Association secretary Ali Qazilbash said in a statement.

He said local mills had stocks of about one million tonnes of unsold sugar, and its marketing would be hit by any untimely imports.

The local industry pays an excise duty of 2,100 rupees per tonne compared to 1,400 rupees per tonne for imported sugar, he said.

 

"Thus the government is subsidizing the sugar imports," he added.

Qazilbash said the government should make the duty on imported sugar on par with that of domestically produced sugar.