The Ministry of Finance is making final preparations to give huge customs concessions on the import from India= As per the preparations, the government-owned Salt Trading Corporation will import sugar from India by paying one per cent customs=
The price of sugar has been soaring, with STC running out of stock of the sweet substance= This is why the government has allowed sugar import from India, a source at the Ministry of Supplies said= The supplies ministry had sent to the Ministry of Finance a proposal on importing 50,000 MT of sugar= The finance ministry is making preparations to allow import of 30,000 MT
In the last crushing season, Nepal produced a total of 1,67,000 MT of sugar, as initial estimates suggest= This is way below the annual demand for 2,55,000 MT of sugar
Kumar Rajbhandari, STC spokesperson, said they are about to import sugar from India in view of a possible shortage due to reliance on domestically-produced sugar
Sugar industries said they could run sugar mills for only two months during the crushing season, due to a shortage of sugarcane= This grim situation has arisen because sugar factories do not pay sugarcane farmers on time=
We are yet to get an all-clear on importing sugar from India, Rajbhandari said, addingM We will start the procurement process once we get the go-ahead=
According to STC, sugar price has risen to INR 34 -around Rs 55_ in the Indian market= Delay on the part of the government in making a decision on sugar import means consumers will have to buy sugar at a higher rate
