SEOUL, Oct. 24 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s agriculture ministry announced Tuesday that it will continue to evaluate the possibility of extending the tariff-rate quota system currently in place for raw sugar, in light of global price volatility.
Kwon Jae-han, the deputy minister for agricultural innovation policy, made the remark during his visit to a production line of the country’s top foodstuff maker CJ Cheiljedang Corp. in Incheon, west of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
“CJ Cheiljedang holds enough sugar and raw sugar reserves for around four months, and the local industries plan to refrain from raising prices through early next year,” Kwon said, noting the recent increase in global sugar prices is expected to have a limited impact on the cost of bread and confectionery.
The global price of sugar rose 35 percent from a year earlier as of mid-October, due to India’s reduction in export volumes and the anticipated decrease in the production of raw sugar from Thailand, the ministry said.
Kwon added that the agriculture ministry will continue talks with related ministries to extend the tariff-rate quota system on raw sugar, which will expire at the end of this year.
South Korea currently exempts the 3-percent tariff applied on raw sugar imports. The tariff-rate quota is a system under which products are imported with favorable duty conditions within a designated volume.
A shopper chooses sugar products at a supermarket in Seoul on Oct. 18, 2023. (Yonhap) colin@yna.co.kr
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