Custom authorities started enforcing yesterday a decision by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif to exempt crude and refined sugar from custom duties. The exemption will be applied to imports starting from 13 December and ending in late June 2010.
Adly Abdel Razeq, director of the Customs Authority’s systems and procedures sector, said that the notification was circulated to all ports and customs outlets.
The exemption is the second its kind within a year. The first decision was issued six months ago and expired at the end of December. The exemptions aim to counter price increases.
Ahmed el-Wakeel, the head of Alexandria’s Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Ministry of Trade’s industry and trade committee, predicted that international prices would continue to climb into 2011. El-Wakeel believes that the new sugar and sugar beet harvests will temporarily help stabilize local prices until next May.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
