Sugar importers said yesterday that the cost of importing sugar has increased by Rs 10 per kilo
due to the controversy of cocaine being detected in sugar imported from Brazil.
Importers may also have to curtail imports from Brazil and this may lead to additional costs,they said.
Importer and member from Sri Lanka Sugar Importers Association Hemaka Fernando said sugar is being loaded from Brazil and there is a stopover in Portugal before arriving in Sri Lanka which is the last port.
“Drug dealers load cocaine in Brazil and then a third party unloads them in Portugal.However due to limited unloading time in Portugal sometimes the cocaine cannot be unloaded and these are the containers that are being detected by local authorities.”
“We must also say that in addition to the Customs, CID and the Narcotics officials, sugar importers themselves have detected cocaine after inspection at their yards and have voluntarily informed authorities.”
“All the cocaine which has been so far detected has come on a shipping line called “MSC” and transshipment via Portugal (Port Sines), where transshipment has taken place within 24 hours.We must emphasise that this cocaine is for the European market.”
“If the cocaine mafia fails to discharge the cocaine within that at the transshipment port, the vessel sails. In a situation like this, cocaine has arrived in Sri Lanka, Kenya and France.Sri Lanka is not the destination for cocaine due to its high costs.”
As a temporary measure Sri Lankan Sugar Importer’s Association has informed the buyers not to purchase Brazilian sugar anymore.
“This has been agreed by the buyers and an agreement has been signed on date.
Only reason to purchase Brazilian sugar is because the price is cheaper by US$ 15 PMT, compared to other origins and we can pass this on to the consumer.
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