July 9 2002, 17:32 INFOTAG

Parliament of Moldova imposed a 26% customs duty on white and raw cane sugar imports

Parliament adopted July 4 a series of amendments to the Law of state budget 2002 and the Law of customs duties. Thereby a customs duty in the amount of 26% was imposed on import of white sugar and cane raw sugar (formerly the duty had been planned in the amount of 25%).

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Konstantin Syrgi said that introduction of this duty was called on by the need to protect domestic producers of sugar.

He also said that due to absence of customs duty many economic agents had imported cane raw sugar, which entered domestic market after processing and created unfair competition to home beet sugar manufacturers.

He said that "such state of affairs posed threat to further development of local economic agents, representing corresponding segment of market."

"Only in 2001 about 15,000 tonnes of cane raw sugar were imported into country, which destabilized not only domestic market. The processed product was delivered also to other countries, with which Moldova had signed agreements of free trade. They took measures to protect their markets, which can cause disruption of our commercial relations with other countries," noted Konstantin Syrgi.

He also said that free import of cane raw sugar without payment of customs duties encroached not alone upon the interest of sugar producers but of the whole state, because for this reason state budget incurred considerable losses.