At last demand of Indian Sugar Mills Association(ISMA) and the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories (NFCSF) for increasing import duty has been met. Import duty on sugar to 15 % from 10 % will helps to reduce importing of sugar. Meeting was conducted in the presence of Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Food Minister K. V. Thomas. Food minister K.V Thomas, after the meeting held on 4th July, said that the decision was taken to help the industry in clearing outstanding payments to sugarcane farmers, which have risen to Rs.9,000 crore from Rs.5,000 crore in the last one year.
Hike in import duty will help to maintain an ideal price for sugar and it will discourage sugar importers from buying them at low prices and which will in turn affect local sugar farmers to sold out their products at cheap rates.
Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) clarified by a notification that, the duty of both raw and white (refined) sugar has been raised to 15 %.