Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The trade ministry will soon issue a permit for the importation of 968,143 tons of raw sugar for the second quarter (April-June) of 2016 to cater to the needs of the domestic refined sugar industry.

"It has been signed and will be issued on Monday (March 21)," Acting Director General of External Trade of the Ministry of Trade Karyanto Suprih stated here on Friday while referring to the permit.

Karyanto noted that the license to import raw sugar, amounting to 968,143 tons, is to be issued based on the recommendation of the Ministry of Industry.

The volume is not different from that issued for the first quarter in the January-March 2016 period.

In 2016, the government said it will allocate a quota for the importation of 3.22 million tons of raw sugar. The figure increased by five percent as the need for refined sugar for the food and beverage industries increases by over eight percent per annum.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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