U.S. revises sugar import quota for fiscal 2006

U.S. revises sugar import quota for fiscal 2006    The U.S. government has increased its fiscal 2006 tariff-rate quota allocations for raw cane and refined sugar to make up for the damage caused to the domestic crop by last year’s hurricanes.
   A tariff-rate quota allows countries to ship specified quantities of a product to the United States at a relatively low tariff, but subjects all other imports of that product to a higher tariff.
   On Feb. 2, the U.S. Department of Agriculture increased the in-quota quantity of the tariff-rate quota for raw cane sugar by 226,796 metric tons for fiscal 2006. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Tuesday reallocated 35,126 metric tons raw value of the fiscal 2006 tariff-rate quota allocations that will not be used by certain countries. The total quantity of the raw sugar allocations is 261,922 metric tons.