For private importers, the customs duty has been fixed at 15 percent.
Initially, the government had planned to import 5,000 tons and 45,000 tons sugar from Thailand and Brazil respectively.
“We aborted the plan to import sugar from Thailand as India is willing to sell sugar to us,” Urmila Shrestha, the general manager of STC, told myrepublica.com.
Letter of Credit has already been issued to import sugar from Brazil. STC and NTL are importing 30,000 and 20,000 tons of sugar respectively.
The domestic market has been experiencing sharp rise in sugar price for the last few months for the last few months due to decline in sugarcane production. Price of sugar in the domestic market shot to Rs 60 to 65 per kg amid supply deficit due to drop in domestic production of sugarcane and rising price in international market.
In a bid to intervene the market and discourage cartel, the government is selling sugar at Rs 53 per kg from the outlets of STC, NTL and Nepal Food Corporation (NFC).
Officials said domestic production of sugar hovers around 110,000 tons per year against the domestic demand of 150,000 tons. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, the production of sugarcane reduced to 2.48 million tons in fiscal year 2008/09 from 2.6 million tons a year earlier.
Dashain market to run until Chhat
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies has instructed the officials to continue Dashain Market, jointly opened by STC, NTL and NFC in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur, until Chhat festival in a bid to provide essential commodities to general consumers at reasonable prices. The government has been selling sugar, rice, flour and cooking oil through such markets.
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