Russia may Raise Raw Sugar Import Tariff to $180/T

Moscow, Jan 21 - Russia may raise its basic raw sugar import tariff to $180 per tonne from $140 from June 1 2009, the Chairman of the Russian Sugar Producers' Union, the industry lobby, Andrei Bodin said on Tuesday.

"This measure is necessary to maintain the refining volumes of sugar from domestic beet, which this season is expected to reach a record 3.5 million tonnes," Bodin told Reuters.

"However, depending on the dollar rate, this tariff may yet be adjusted," he added.

A working group of the government Commission for Protective Measures in Foreign trade, a body responsible for drafting customs tariffs, has approved the new tariff at a meeting on Tuesday, the Agriculture Ministry said in a separate statement.

Bodin said he expects the commission to endorse the proposal in about a week. Then it will be sent to the government to be signed into law.

Russia consumes around 5.8 million tonnes of white sugar a year. In the last few years it has managed to refine more than half of this volume from domestic beet and most of the rest from imported cane raws.

It has regulated raw sugar imports by a base tariff of $140 per tonne. From December 2007 to June 2008 it applied a seasonal tariff of $220 per tonne to protect domestic producers from excessive imports.

A tariff of $220-$270 per tonne applies from December 2008 to the end of May 2009. The level of the tariff depends on the price of sugar in New York. So far it has been kept at the lowest level of $220 per tonne.