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.