Govt extends deadline for duty free sugar import till June 30

The Dollar Business Bureau

The government on Thursday extended the deadline for duty-free import of 5 lakh MT of raw sugar till June 30, 2017, from the current timeline of June 12.

“TRQ (tariff rate quota) benefit (duty-free) shall be available up to and inclusive of June 30, 2017, as per Section 15 of the Customs Act, 1962,” DGFT said in a Notification No.02/2015-2020 dated April 13.

Earlier, the government has allowed import of 5 lakh MT of raw sugar (under Exim Code 170114) to be imported by millers/refiners duty-free to boost domestic supply as the production is likely to decline to 20 million tonnes in the current marketing year of 2016-17 from 25 million tonnes a year ago.

In order to further facilitate the imports, the government has also allowed the import of raw sugar from the ports of Vishakhapatnam and Gangavaram in Andhra Pradesh and Karaikal in Puducherry (in the south zone).

However, the government kept the restrictions on import quantity from the zones unchanged.

In addition, the government has also asked the importer/refiners to convert raw sugar into white/refined sugar within two months from the date of the bill of entry or the date of entry inwards, whichever is later.

“Actual User condition as in the Notification No.32/2016- Customs (N.T) dated 1st March 2016 will be applicable on imports under this TRQ scheme and importer shall convert raw sugar into white/ refined sugar within a period, not exceeding two months from the date of bill of entry or the date of entry inwards, whichever is later,” the notification said.