The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) released the results of an auction for 94,000 tonnes of imported sugar on Wednesday in Ha Noi.

Eight firms won bids for 29,000 tonnes of refined sugar. They were Quang Ngai Sugar and Lotte Vietnam (500 tonnes each); Sanofi Synthelabo Vietnam Pharmaceutical, FES Vietnam, Unilever Vietnam and Red Bull Vietnam (1,000 tonnes each); URC Vietnam (4,000 tonnes); and Vinamilk (20,000 tonnes).

Only 28,000 out of the 65,000 tonnes of raw sugar received successful bids from Bien Hoa-Ninh Hoa Sugar (2,000 tonnes), two subsidiaries of TTC Group (6,000 tonnes) and VietSugar (20,000 tonnes).

Tran Thanh Hai, deputy head of the ministry’s Import and Export Department, said the council in charge of the auction had received 19 valid applications, with four firms offering bids on raw sugar for the production of refined sugar and 15 others making bids on sugar for food manufacturing.

The auctioned volume comprises 65,000 tonnes of raw sugar and 29,000 tonnes of refined sugar, according to a ministry’s circular on managing import tariff quotas for sugar.

The reference price for raw and refined sugar was the same, at VND1.4 million (US$60) per tonne.

Speaking at the auction, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh said the ministry had held successful actions for duty quotas of imported sugar in 2016 and 2017.

“Today’s auction was conducted in an open, fair and transparent manner under the supervision and witness of ministries, agencies, associations, enterprises and the media,” he noted.

This is the third time that the MoIT has held such an auction, following the Viet Nam Sugarcane Association’s repeated proposals over the years to open tenders.

An auction was held for the first time in September 2016 for 85,000 tonnes of raw and refined sugar. Eleven businesses won the tender.

Last year, the auction council permitted businesses to import 44,000 tonnes of raw sugar and 45,500 tonnes of refined sugar. — VNS