Sugar import on preferential quotas reduced contraband flows to Moldova

The illicit sales of sugar have lately increased significantly, whereas, the contraband flows have decreased, according to the Union of Moldovan Sugar Producers.

According to the Union of Moldovan Sugar Producers, this trend can be explained by the fact that at the suggestion of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Economy has swiftly authorized a generally-accessible quota on import, under preferential regime, of 12 thousand tons of Belarus beet-root sugar.  

According to the Union of Moldovan Sugar Producers, the sales turnover of sugar market operators rose about 50%, against the previous month and reached an average level for this period of the year. At the same time, the volume of sugar purchases by corporate clients (leading industrial manufactures, processers and wholesale traders) increased by 25-30%.  

Representatives of the Union think that at present, Belarus sugar is sold mainly on the internal market. This sugar was imported within the frameworks of the preferential quotas, in a free trade regime.  

“The 20%-VAT paid to the state budget by economic agents, for the import of sugar, made 22 million lei. The Moldovan sugar is more expensive, because of the 2012 summer drought. Thus, it is uncompetitive in Moldova and its supplies are almost fully exported to the European Union, also on a preferential quota (in 2013, it stands at 34 thousand tons),” said sources in the Union.  

Executive Director of the Moldovan Union of Sugar Producers, Raisa Bejan said that the well-timed opening of quota on preferential sugar import made it possible to increase the tax receipts from its legal supply and to normalize the situation on the sugar market, due to the partial eviction of smuggled sugar.  

“The reduction in the VAT on Moldovan sugar and the legal import of this product has decreased the attractiveness of the Ukrainian smuggled sugar. Yet, it still dominates the market in northern and southern regions of the country,” she said.  

The leadership of the Moldovan Union of Sugar Producers noted that the current quota on preferential import of sugar will be outspent by mid-June and that it will be necessary to open a new one, in order to combat the sugar contraband.  

Adapted from: Infotag