The EEC Council unanimously supported the duty-free import of raw sugar to Kazakhstan

At the meeting of the EEC Council held on March 30, 2023 in an online format, the participants supported Kazakhstan's proposal for duty-free import of raw sugar. 

Thanks to the tariff benefit, domestic sugar factories will be able to purchase raw materials without paying duties to load their capacities, which will ultimately have a positive impact on the price of the finished product. The Kazakh side was headed by Acting Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Trade and Integration Serik Zhumangarin.

«As the practice of past years has shown, sugar supplies from neighboring countries, which occupied up to 90% of the Kazakh market, are subject to various factors and unstable. Our country has decided to develop its own sugar industry, for which now, due to the lack of sufficient volume of its own raw materials, we need to import raw materials from third countries», — Vice Minister of Trade and Integration Janelle Kushukova said at the EEC meeting.

The tariff quota approved at the EEC Council for duty-free import of raw materials for the next 9 months of this year is 350 thousand tons. The parties agreed to return to this issue in the autumn and, if necessary, revise the quota volume taking into account the new harvest.  

In Kazakhstan, in 2022, sugar factories produced 283 thousand tons of sugar (33 thousand tons of beet and 249.9 thousand tons of cane), the load was 50%. In January-February 2023 — 51.5 thousand tons of sugar, 40.4 thousand tons were imported.  

Currently, within the framework of the "turnaround scheme", akimats of the regions have allocated 18 billion tenge to sugar factories for the timely purchase of raw materials, modernization of capacities that allow producing sugar in sufficient volume for domestic consumption and at a stable price.