The ministry is currently seeking comments on the draft circular on auction of sugar import quotas in 2017 before the official promulgation. Accordingly, the content of the draft does not change much compared with Circular No. 07/2016/TT-BCT on auction of quotas for sugar import in 2016.

Specifically, the auction of sugar import quotas in 2017 will be conducted through a council. Entities allowed to participate in the auction include traders directly using sugar as raw material for production, and traders using crude sugar for refining.

The sugar import quota auction in 2016 took place at the office of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on September 7, with 22 valid dossiers, including eight from traders using crude sugar to produce refined sugar and 14 from traders using refined sugar as production material.

Three of eight companies won the bid to import 40,000 tonnes of raw sugar while eight of the 14 other companies won the bid to import 45,000 tonnes of refined sugar.