Cairo - Egypt will impose a sugar export
tariff of 3 000 Egyptian pounds ($165.47) per tonne, the
state's official gazette said on Thursday.
Egypt expects to produce about 2.4 million tonnes of sugar
from its harvest this year, less than the roughly 3 million
tonnes it consumes each year, with the gap made up by a mix of
private and public sector imports.
Egypt last month removed a tariff on raw sugar imports
through the end of 2017.
Traders, have said that tariffs applied to raw and white
sugar impeded private importers from securing supplies and
contributed to a sugar shortage last year.
One Middle East sugar trader said the new export tariff "won't change anything on the ground as no locally produced
sugar is being exported at the moment", with the exception of
sugar produced by Savola, which will be unaffected
because its operation is based in a free zone.
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The export tariff will take effect on Friday, the gazette said.