Vietnam is expected to produce nearly 1.26 million tons of sugar in the 2006-2007 sugarcane crop, up from 970,000 tons in the previous crop, according to the Vietnam Sugarcane Association on Monday.

The country's sugar demand is estimated at 1.37 million tons in the 2006-2007 crop, which will end next July, posting a year-on- year rise of 1.48 percent, said the association.

Under Vietnam's commitments to the World Trade Organization ( WTO), the country will place a quota of 55,000 tons on sugar imports in 2007, which annually increases by five percent in the following years.

Meanwhile, the country will impose import tax of 25 percent on brown sugar and 40 percent on white sugar. However, the tariffs will gradually decrease to six percent at most by 2012.

Vietnam will also lower sugar tariffs to 30 percent in 2007 and 5 percent in 2010 under the roadmap of the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Free Trade Area.

Vietnam imported nearly 80,000 tons of sugar in the first five months of this year, increasing 15 times over the same period last year, said the sugarcane association.

Source: Xinhua