Vietnam is to import 40,000 tons of sugar with lower tax from now to Jan. 20 to meet its increasing demand for the product, according to a local trade information agency on Thursday.

The Vietnamese government on Dec. 2 allowed the import of 40,000 tons of refined sugar, subject to import tariff of only 20 percent instead of the normal rate of 40 percent, to meet the demand which is estimated to increase by 30 percent during the Lunar New Year festival from late January to early February, said the Trade Information Center under the Trade Ministry.

After the government's decision, sugar retail prices in the domestic market decreased by 300-700 Vietnamese dong (VND) (2-4 U. S. cents) to 10,000-12,000 VND (0.6-0.8 dollars) per kilogram.

The local demand for sugar is estimated at 1.2 million tons in 2006, while 42 sugar plants nationwide are expected to turn out some one million tons of the product, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Vietnam produced over one million tons of sugar during the 2004- 2005 sugarcane crop season, which ended last July, down 10.7 percent against the previous, due to prolonged drought. During the crop season, plants nationwide turned out 902,000 tons of sugar, and households 180,000 tons of the product, the agriculture ministry said.

Source: Xinhua