KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN GUYANA’S TRADE POLICY FRAMEWORK New UK Policy on Sugar Quotas On 19 May 2020 the UK announced its intention to apply an autonomous tariff rate quote (ATQ) as part of the new UK Global Tariff (UKGT). The UKGT will replace the EU’s Common External Tariff (CET), which the UK currently applies, when the transition period ends, from 1 January 2021. This policy would allow a set volume of raw cane sugar (260,000 MT) to enter the UK tariff free at 0% rate of duty with an out of quota rate of £28.00/100kg for 12 months, effective 1 January 2021. The UK has indicated that the purpose of the ATQ is to address a deficit in sugar for human consumption; to ensure that the raw cane sugar refining sector can source competitively priced raw cane sugar; and for food security reasons. The UK sugar market produces around 1.9MT of refined white sugar per annum and is made up primarily of sugar cane refining, UK sugar beet refining and EU white sugar imports. Following reforms to the EU sugar regime which led to removal of sugar beet production quotas from 1 October 2017, the market share for sugar beet in the UK grew to about 55% and sugar cane’s share of the UK market reduced from 50% to about 15-20%. Most of the UKs sugar cane refining is based on raw cane sugar imported from the ACP and LDC countries and Brazil. ACP sugar enters the UK tariff-free. The figure below identifies the main suppliers of sugar cane to the UK.
Year Edition, 2020
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