East African Community Approved Tanzania to Lower Import Tariff on Sugar by 75 P

According to the report from The Citizen of Tanzania, the East African Community has recently approved Tanzania's tariff lowering of 75 percent on sugar and its import of 65,000 tons sugar to make up for the shortage in market supply until May 2010 when local sugar-refineries enter into production.

Tanzania's demand for edible sugar and industrial sugar is respectively 330,000 tons and 100,000 tons per annum. Due to the reduction of sugar-cane harvest from climate changes, Tanzania's annual sugar output has decreased to 250,000 tons this year from average 360,000 tons over past three years. Over past few months, the market price of sugar has risen approximately 40 percent.