COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Finance announced today that the special commodity levy on imported white sugar has been increased by Rs. 1 and 75 cents per kilogram to Rs. 2 with effect from Friday (16). A special commodity levy of Rs. 15 per kilogram has been imposed on raw sugar also from today.
The Ministry of Finance said the increase comes due to locally produced raw sugar entering the market. However, the maximum retail price (MRP) of white sugar will continue to remain at Rs. 95 per kilogram.
The Government in July this year reduced the special commodity levy on imported sugar from Rs. 30 per imported kilogram of sugar to 25 cents.
The Ministry said Sri Lanka produces around 56,000 metric tonnes of raw sugar annually which is less than 10 percent of the annual brown sugar requirement. Sri Lanka annually imports 650,000 metric tons of sugar or 92% of its total requirement. The per capita consumption of sugar in Sri Lanka is 31 kilograms.
