On March 30, the participants of the regular online meeting of the EEC Council supported the proposal of the Kazakh side for duty-free raw sugar imports, which would enable local sugar producers to purchase raw materials without paying duties to load their capacities. This would also have a positive effect on the price of the finished product, the press office of the Government reported to CentralAsia.news.
«The practice of past years has shown that sugar supplies from neighbouring countries, which made up to 90% of the Kazakhstani market, are exposed to various factors and unstable. Our country has decided to develop the domestic sugar industry, for which now, due to the shortage of our own raw materials, we have to import raw sugar from third countries,» Deputy Minister of Trade of Kazakhstan Janel Kushukova said.
The quota for duty-free raw sugar imports for the next nine months of the year is 350,000 tonnes. In this context, an agreement was reached to discuss the issue again in the autumn, and if necessary, to revise the quota, taking into account the new crop.
The akimats of the regions have allocated 18 billion tenge under the turnaround scheme to the sugar factories so that they will purchase raw materials and increase sugar production capacities to meet the domestic needs and sell sugar at an affordable price.
