• Trade Ministry seeks variable import levy and open market

The National Food Security Committee established under the Presidential Secretariat is considering a request from the Ministry of Trade, Commerce, and Food Security to do away with issuing licences for selected traders to import mung beans, undu, and cowpea to Sri Lanka and allow free market imports with a variable levy based on the price local farmers get, The Sunday Morning learns.

According to Ministry of Trade Secretary A.M.P.M.B. Atapattu, a decision has been reached last week to source two reports from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Consumer Affairs Authority on the farmgate price of the three crops and their market price to calculate a suitable import levy.

The proposal to amend the import system and to do away with licences for a few large-scale importers had been proposed by Minister of Trade Nalin Fernando, who had pointed out that while the crop yield of the three food items had increased in Sri Lanka, there was a scarcity in the market, with prices remaining out of reach for the public.  

The National Food Security Committee and the Treasury are expected to gazette a new levy for the three crops by the end of next month and suspend licences issued thus far.