Sugar tariff cuts delayed

Sugar tariff cuts delayed

MANILA (Reuters): The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) Council has
allowed the Philippines and Indonesia to delay the start of sugar
import tariff cuts, a senior Philippine government official said
on Sunday.

The decision "will allow the Philippines to maintain high
tariffs on sugar for several more years before phasing them down
to a maximum of five percent in 2010," Trade Secretary Manuel
Roxas said in a statement.

The Philippines currently applies a 65-percent import tariff
on sugar. Indonesia imposes a 25-percent import duty on white
sugar and a 20-percent duty on raw sugar.

The AFTA Council's decision was endorsed by a meeting of the
economic ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) in Hanoi earlier this month.

The Philippines had been committed under AFTA to start cutting
its tariff on sugar imports by the end of 2002 and continue until
it falls to between zero and five percent by 2010.

The Philippines and Indonesia were among six original members
of the 10-nation ASEAN which were to begin reducing tariffs by
the end of 2002.

The trade department said the Philippines will need to work
out the details of the AFTA Council's decision to delay the start
of the tariff cuts for the two countries.