Egypt imposes sugar export tariff of 3,000 pounds per tonne

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 tons of sugar from its harvest this year, less than the roughly 3 million tons 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.

The export tariff will take effect on Friday, the gazette said.