Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 16/Oct 03:18

Alcohol, tobacco duties to apply locally first

CONTRARY to a common misconception, the increased customs duties on alcohol, beer and tobacco will be levied on local products first as well as imported ones. Further, the increased duties would be applied to local products first. On October 13, during his presentation of the national budget for 2025-2026, Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo announced a 100 per cent increase in customs duties on rum and spirits, beer and tobacco products with immediate effect. Under the new rates, duties on rum and spirits will rise from $79.25 to $158.50 by per cent of alcohol content; beer from $5.14 to $10.28 by gravity of beer; and cigarettes from $5.26 to $10.52 per pack of 20. During the TT Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) post-budget forum on October 14, West Indian Tobacco Co Ltd (Witco) Corporate and Regulatory Affairs (CORA) Caribbean head Gervon Abraham said while the increase in customs duties had been listed in the legal notices, there had been no matching legislation or guidance on changes to import duties. He said there was a buffer between customs duties for local and imported products. Also speaking at the forum, Tancoo said it was easiest for the government to raise the prices on local products at this time, as increasing the charges on imported products would take longer. “There are international agreements, treaties and so on, that impact when and how we can increase charges on some of our imported products, including alcohol. I have the Solicitor General reviewing the legislation, etc.” Tancoo, however, reassured the participants that government continued to support the local sector. “We are reviewing what happens with imported alcohol in terms of re-establishing the buffer as close as possible. A lot more time and more research is required as to how to work out valuation and our international arrangements. If you disaggregate what we have put down on the books as increases in fees and increases in duties, etc, the impact on the individual bottle of beer, of another comparator, is very small. This is going to have a small impact.” Tancoo said a lot of the duties had not been increased for many years. “We need to do is to fund our need, which is to continue to fund a budget that will contribute to the development of all of TT. So as hard as it may be, we are asking those who can, to play a greater role and this is how we are reaching out to try to get greater support from producers. We remain open to continuous conversations. Bar Owners Association president Satesh Moonasar, in a telephone conversation with Newsday on October 15, explained how duties were charged on locally manufactured alcohol. “At Angostura, for example, there are two different warehouses, one is a custom bond and the other is a distribution warehouse. When they manufacture alcohol, the alcohol goes into the custom bonded warehouse, where customs officers are in charge of that bond, and only when they pay their customs duties for the product, then the customs officer releases it from the custom bond to the distribution warehouse. So although they make the product, until they pay customs, the product is not theirs to sell.” He said he was unsure whether the omission of an increase of import duties on foreign alcohol was an oversight on the government’s part. He said from his understanding, the customs duties were on local and regional manufacturers and not imported alcohol. Moonasar said bar owners were waiting on Angostura and Carib Brewery to give them revised price lists before they could say what the new prices would be. “Based on how the duties were raised, the prices will vary from product to product, based on alcohol content in the alcohol, and gravity per per cent of alcohol in beers. So there isn’t a standard calculation where we could say it’s increasing by that amount. “From my point of view, it will be a very big raise. I can’t say all of it will be passed on to the customer, but based on a 100 per cent hike in duties, if the companies don’t absorb some of it for us, the bar owners will have no other choice but to pass it on to the customer. It will be difficult for the companies and the bar owners to absorb that much of an increase, because this was a 100 per cent increase in duties, it wasn’t five or ten per cent, it was 100 per cent.” He said since the announcement, Carib Brewery had paused their delivery operations. “They are not taking any orders from customers and they are not sending out any goods. They will resume normal operations on October 16, where we will start back placing orders and getting goods. Being that they’re resuming operations tomorrow, by the end of today (October 15), they have to give us a price list.” Both Angostura and Carib Brewery, when approached for comment, did not respond by the time of publishing. The post Alcohol, tobacco duties to apply locally first appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.