SEOUL, South Korea’s agriculture ministry said Tuesday it will continue consulting with related ministries to extend the tariff-rate quota system currently applied to raw sugar, amid global price volatility.
Kwon Jae-han, the deputy minister for agricultural innovation policy, made the remark during his visit to a production line of the country’s top foodstuff maker CJ Cheiljedang Corp. in Incheon, west of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
“CJ Cheiljedang holds enough sugar and raw sugar reserves for around four months, and the local industries plan to refrain from raising prices through early next year,” Kwon said, noting the recent increase in global sugar prices is expected to have a limited impact on the cost of bread and confectionery.
The global price of sugar moved up 35 percent from a year earlier as of mid-October, amid concerns over India’s cut in export volumes, along with the anticipated decrease in the production of raw sugar from Thailand, the ministry said.
Kwon added the agriculture ministry will continue talks with related ministries to extend the tariff-rate quota system on raw sugar, which will expire at the end of this year.
South Korea currently exempts the 3-percent tariff applied on raw sugar imports.
The tariff-rate quota is a system under which products are imported with favorable duty conditions within a designated volume.
Source: Yonhap News Agency