Responding to the increase in the tariff quota for sugar imports to 400 thousand tons, Şeker-İş Union Chairman İsa Gök said, “The issues of determining the strategy and development plan of the sugar sector in our country and ensuring a more controlled and transparent operation in cooperation with industry, workers, producers and the state will be the most appropriate decisions for the today and future of our sector.”
With the President's Decision published in the Official Gazette, a tariff quota was opened for 400 thousand tons of sugar imports. With this published decision, customs duty will not be collected from sugar to be imported within the framework of the tariff quota. The President of Şeker-İş Union President İsa Gök stated that while the beet producer should be supported, the decision to import duty-free will cause great costs, and added, “The estimated value of 400 thousand tons of sugar import is expected to be around 320-350 million dollars. According to the Import Regime Decision, the tax rate to be applied to sugar imports in 2022 is at the level of 135 percent. As a conclusion, with the zero tax application, the import tax rate of 135 percent has been avoided.”
“LEAVING IMPORTS TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS”
Noting that making the imports available to private companies may cause problems, Gök said, "Although it is stated in the Communiqué that the allocation will be made only to the industrial companies that use the product in question as raw material in the production of confectionery products, primarily the companies holding the C sugar allocation certificate, It is seen that a choice can also be made for ‘New importer’ and 'Traditional Importer' in the application form attached to the communiqué. In the Communiqué, only the 'cancellation of the allocation certificate' was stipulated as a sanction. While emphasizing that there is an insufficient sanction, according to the Communiqué, it is seen that there is no need for a follow-up and sanction whether the imported sugar is used in accordance with its purpose.”
SUGAR INSTITUTION SHOULD BE RE-CREATED
Expressing that there is a great need for the re-establishment and restructuring of the sector and the necessity of an independent Sugar Authority at this point, Gök added, “the establishment of an independent decision-making body, which will ensure the effective and healthy regulation and supervision of the sector, and which will include the stakeholders of the sector is needed.”