South Korea doesn’t produce any of its own cane or beet sugar; instead, it imports raw sugar to be refined.
Three refiners operate in South Korea, owned by CJ Corp, Samyang Corp, and TS Corp.
They are protected by a 30% duty on refined sugar imports after the first 100k of annual arrivals.
When the refiners do opt to import hi-pol sugar, they tend to favour Australian supply (over Thailand) due to quality specifications, even though they both incur no duty.
Central American supply also entered duty-free late on in 2019.
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This Czapp Explainer was Published on the 16th April 2021.
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