http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/26/sudan-sugar-idUSL8N13K3K020151126?feedType=RSS&feedName=rbssEnergyNews#j94ZaxIpKqC5cKEq.97
Industries | Thu Nov 26, 2015 10:52am EST
Related: ENERGY
Sudan emerges as regional hub for sugar imports, smuggling rife
* Sugar re-exported or smuggled to South Sudan, Chad
* Sudan expected to import 1.2 mln T of sugar this year
By David Brough and Khalid Abdel Aziz
LONDON/KHARTOUM, Nov 25 Sudan has long been known for its sweet tooth,
but is now importing far more sugar than it can consume after the
removal of customs duties with some supplies smuggled across its
porous borders to neighbouring countries such as South Sudan and Chad.
The government opened up sugar imports to the private sector and
removed customs duties in 2012, following complaints about shortages,
but shipments into the country now far exceed domestic needs and are
even threatening the country's producers.
Traders said sugar had been smuggled into neighbouring countries where
customs duties and shipping costs can be higher including South Sudan,
Chad and Eritrea while some may also be filtering across its northern
border to Egypt.
"The sugar entering Sudan incurs less duty than on entering Egypt
directly thereby providing more of an incentive to take the Sudan
route," a European trade source said.
Sugar is a key staple in Sudanese diets and tea sweetened with several
spoonfuls of sugar is a favourite drink. Supplies of fresh fruit and
other natural sources of sweetness are not always plentiful or
affordable.
This year, Sudan is expected to import 1.2 million tonnes of sugar
worth $600 million, a source in a state sugar company said.
Sudan needs barely more than half that total, however, to cover the
shortfall between its demand of around 1.5 million tonnes and domestic
production of about 850,000 tonnes.
That suggests that 550,000 tonnes is being re-exported or smuggled
into neighbouring countries.
It is a lucrative business, Sudanese traders say, because they are
able to buy cargoes on the international market using letters of
credit with deferred settlement dates, sell their sugar and use the
proceeds to settle their accounts.
Sudan's sugar refiners complain that imported sugar is putting them
out of business as they have to pay taxes while sugar imports are
exempted from duties.
Imported sugar is sold for 18 Sudanese pounds less per 50 kilo-sack
than domestically produced sugar.
The main origins of sugar for Sudan include Thailand, the world's
second largest exporter of the sweetener and India, the number two
producer.
Indian coastal refineries also ship so-called "tolled" sugar, which
has been refined from imported Brazilian raw sugar, to Sudan.
(Additional reporting by Lin Noueihed in Cairo; Editing by William
Hardy and David Evans)
Read more at Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/26/sudan-sugar-idUSL8N13K3K020151126#XReBLQ7SbaCEbzDR.99
Received on Thu Nov 26 2015 - 12:45:21 EST