HANOI, Jan 5 (Reuters): Vietnam will allow the import of 40,000 tonnes of white sugar this month to help stabilise domestic markets, where a shortage pushed sugar prices to a 10- year high in recent weeks, a trade official said today. "The government has agreed to the proposal made by the Trade and the Agriculture Ministries for the import of 40,000 tonnes of refined sugar which should arrive before Tet," a Trade Ministry official. He said the import tax on the 40,000 tonnes would be 20 per cent, down from the normal rate of 40 per cent on imported white sugar. Tet, the Lunar New Year festival celebrated between Jan. 28 and Feb. 2 this year, is a high point in sugar demand. For two months before it, demand rises as candy makers gear up production. This time, sugar refiners could not buy sufficient cane as a drought and storms hit the crop. Last month, Le Van Tam, chairman of the Vietnam Sugar and Sugarcane Association, said refiners had sought permission to import between 100,000 and 150,000 tonnes of raw and white sugar from either Thailand, Australia or Brazil.
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